Orcas Love Boats ?

Boats harassing whales? I think not. There is a rare boat, usually driven by someone in the public sector, not a whale watching operator, that gets too close or actually runs over the top of them.
Here is a photo taken last week by Capt. Jim Maya of San Juan Island's Mayas Charters.
See if YOU think the boat is harassing the whales.

Pictured are a group of transient orca whales.

Here is an excerpt from Ken Balcomb, Center for Whale Research, top srkw scientist:

The beefed-up surveillance doesn't impress Ken Balcomb, executive director at the Center for Whale Research, based in Friday Harbor, Wash. Balcomb was stopped by the RCMP for an "extended interview" March 25 while investigating killer whale activity off Victoria. "It is a great federal employment opportunity, but irrelevant to saving the south resident killer whales. They need salmon, and that should be [the] first priority, to manage salmon accordingly," Balcomb said in an e-mail. more


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