Seeing Blue; Thinking Green

It's easy to take pride in your job when people come onto the boat as tourists and leave as activists. We had a wonderful group of guests today from all over the world and everyone was interested in learning as much as they could about the orcas and their plight.

We were pretty lucky today to have amazing encounters with J Pod, Dall's Porpoise, and a Steller Sea Lion. We began our trip seeing J Pod. They were all foraging between Smuggler's Cove and Lime Kiln. There were a few tightly packed family groups (the J2s were all foraging together inshore) and then other individuals who were a bit more spread out offshore. We had fabulous looks at the J11s (sans J11). J27 (Blackberry) and his younger siblings were all fishing together. It looked like Tsuchi and Mako (J31 and 39 respectively) took up the rear of the group while Blackberry steamed ahead. The animals were bucking the current as they headed down island. We got some great looks at the family groups as well as a few sightings of J1's flailing sea snake... for more information on this, ask your parents.

We decided to head down island to circumnavigate the island and search for porpoise as well as Steller Sea Lions. It seems however, as if the Dall's Porpoise found us. They came shooting into the bow of the boat as we were travelling along and gave us an incredible show as they swam in and out of the bow's pressure wave. They were doing the porpoise equivalent of surfing. They hung out with us for almost ten minutes, playing and rolling around each other while slicing through the water like knives through soft butter! These little buggers are sooooo fast! It was incredible to see their stocky little bodies moving at such speeds with their black and white tails pumping so effortlessly. Our guests were thrilled with the encounter and were chatting about the Dall's the rest of the trip.

As if that weren't enough, we had an awesome look at a Steller Sea Lion as he whoofed down a HUGE salmon just off Whale Rocks. He was thrashing about in a thrall of gulls, tearing the salmon apart before our wide eyes. He basically chugged the salmon down in a matter of minutes. (Pretty effective for not having hands to grab it with.) We also saw flocks of sea birds hanging out, including a group of my favs: Harlequin Ducks. Their pretty faces look like someone painted make-up on them, hence their name.

As said before, I can't get over the beauty of this area and the complexity of the wildlife here. Our guests had mounds of questions about the orcas, their status, aquatic parks, pollution, and fish farms. I don't think it's enough for people to come and enjoy this area without learning some of the problems this ecosystem is facing. Our orcas are suffering from contamination of lead, mercury, PCBs, DDTs, and even fire retardants. Their food is running low, they have a high infant mortality rate, and we are missing many key individuals. An entire generation of animals was removed from here for aquariums, leaving holes in their social hierarchy as well as less genetic diversity. Many, if not all, of the problems these guys are facing can be linked to humans. The orcas make a great poster child for concerns not simply because they're so charismatic, but also due to their position on the food chain. They are a top oceanic predator, and therefore suffer from greater contamination and lack of food. Humans, however, are basically the top of the global food chain. If these orcas are suffering now, what does this say for us in the future? Although the prognosis seems bleak, there is hope if we all pitch in to make a difference. Our guests today pledged to make a difference in their own lives and maybe this will save not only our Southern Resident Killer Whales, but also some less appreciated creatures in their own back yards. The world is becoming smaller by the minute and it's up to us to work together to save it.

I will get off my soapbox now and enjoy the memories of the day with such incredible creatures.

For more information on what you can do to help make a difference for our orcas please visit the Whale Museum's page at: http://www.whalemuseum.org/education/library/helporcas.html

Megan Young, Naturalist