JULY 8,
2019
by Lynda
V. Mapes
Breaking
an unprecedented run of days this summer without frequenting their home waters,
J, K and even possibly L pod southern resident orcas were all seen Friday
morning on the west side of San Juan Island.
This was
the first summer since observations have been kept that the whales were not seen at all in
June, and showed up only briefly one day in May.
"J
and K and maybe some L off my house in Haro Strait now," Ken Balcomb wrote
in an email to The Seattle Times just after 8 a.m. from his home. "The
whales were off Neah Bay yesterday. Tide is ebbing. If (the tides) are bringing
many fish they may push further north when the tide floods. Whales very spread
out."
Balcomb,
founding director of the Center for Whale Research, and other researchers had
not been able to do their usual work with the orcas so far this summer as the
whales continued to stay away, presumably searching for chinook salmon in a year
in which chinook are scarce in the orcas' home waters.
It
remains to be seen if the whales stick around, or only briefly visit as they
did in May.
Lack of
available, quality food is the biggest threat to the southern residents'
survival, in addition to toxins in their environment, and noise and disturbance
by boats. Underwater racket and disturbance by recreational boaters and
commercial shipping make it harder for the whales to find what food is
available.
Sorrel
North, a Lopez island resident, is running an initiative to further restrict
whale-watch tours directed at the southern residents in the waters around the
San Juans.
North
said she would deliver initiative petitions next week to the San Juan County auditor.
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