Last summer, when friends were here from California, we had what we thought was a fabulous day out on the Straits of Juan de Fuca, watching local pods of Orca (killer) whales frolic in their domain. I snapped the above photo from the boat we were on.
Apparently, according to an opine in Sunday’s Seattle Times, we did a bad.
Mark Anderson, chairman of an organization called Orca Relief, says that when Orcas are already faced with a dwindling food supply (salmon migration numbers in the Sound are down), they suffer significant additional metabolic stresses when boats like the one above (and the one we were on) venture in and out of their immediate habitat.
The result is that normal stresses in these beautiful creatures are exacerbated to the point where the pods are losing key family members at an alarming rate, including breeding females. Anderson would like to see excursions like the one we took totally banned on the Sound, but that may be a bit too strong. A better way might be to increase awareness.
The emerging dilemma, he points out, is that new science has shown that the stresses specifically caused by whale sight-seeing boats is accelerating Orca starvation. The whales have to swim faster, dive deeper, and travel longer routes to get food, all while trying to avoid the daily boat harassments. These excursion boats, even now, operate on “the edge” of current federal law.
The solution, he says, should be obvious.
Apparently, according to an opine in Sunday’s Seattle Times, we did a bad.
Mark Anderson, chairman of an organization called Orca Relief, says that when Orcas are already faced with a dwindling food supply (salmon migration numbers in the Sound are down), they suffer significant additional metabolic stresses when boats like the one above (and the one we were on) venture in and out of their immediate habitat.
The result is that normal stresses in these beautiful creatures are exacerbated to the point where the pods are losing key family members at an alarming rate, including breeding females. Anderson would like to see excursions like the one we took totally banned on the Sound, but that may be a bit too strong. A better way might be to increase awareness.
The emerging dilemma, he points out, is that new science has shown that the stresses specifically caused by whale sight-seeing boats is accelerating Orca starvation. The whales have to swim faster, dive deeper, and travel longer routes to get food, all while trying to avoid the daily boat harassments. These excursion boats, even now, operate on “the edge” of current federal law.
The solution, he says, should be obvious.
Of course the elimination of these trips would likely cause some economic hardships in the short term, due to the potential loss of tourist dollars. But the greater danger, he worries, could be a tourist catastrophe when the Orca whales are no longer here.
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