Status Updates From Orca: Shared Waters, Shared...

Northern residents are believed to be only orcas who use “rubbing beaches”: “using pebbles of a specific size piled in just the right depth for a full-body massage” @ Robson Bight, Vancouver Island

“B/c of the wave action at one cove, the beach is piled high w/the smooth round pebbles of just the size & texture the orcas apparently prefer.”

Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972 ended orca capture in U.S.

Sea World asked for & received “economic hardship exemption” & kept capturing until 1976

Last orca capture in 1976: @ Budd Inlet 6 captured; state got federal order to prevent moving them; won in fed court— all 6 escaped or were released

(p65) In 2019, 63 orcas were still captive; orca captures in Russian waters continued

Shame captured in 1965, to Sea World San Diego

August 7, 1970: Penn Cove capture, 90-100 orcas— Griffin knew had more than he could handle so freed all but 40– Lolita was captured that day; 4 calves & 1 adult drowned during capture- bodies weighted & sunk to conceal

Public outcry in 1971 when they resurfaced

(Lolita spent 53 years in captivity @ Miami Seaquarium; died 2023)

In 1965, Ted Griffin captures Namu, the world’s first captive performing killer whale; “Namu fever stoked an international craze for orcas to be put on exhibit.” He died after only a year “from a massive bacterial infection caused by the raw sewage polluting Elliot Bay.”

(p55) “By 1976 some 270 orcas had been captured- many of them multiple times…”

Food preference is a key attribute of orca society & culture in every ocean. Each type…specializes in its prey & hunting strategy, utilizing the characteristics of its habitat, and passes this learning & culture on to the next generation.

So. residents have what humans call culture— learned behavior passed on intergenerationally, incl. language, ceremonies, hunting & gathering skills, usual & accustomed gathering & hunting spots, and distinct food preferences.

No. resident pop. 310

So. resident pop. 74

J pod orcas of so. residents are most often seen in the Puget Sound, urban waters of Seattle & Tacoma in Sept-Nov

BIGG’s or TRANSIENT orcas found from AK to CA, incl. Salish Sea & Hood Canal; form smaller groups than residents (10 or less) & membership fluid; eat marine mammals; pop. About 300 - CLOSED SADDLE PATCH

OFFSHORE orcas rarely seen, scantily studied; in open sea of outer continental shelf; eat fish & sharks; pop. about 300, groups of up to 100

Each ecotype has unique foraging behaviors, dialects, diets & apperance

The different orca types don’t interact or interbreed; conflict is rare

Northern residents: far more numerous than southern; THREE CLANS— A, G & R, w/numerous PODS w/in each; primarily around Vancouver Is. And from SE AK to Grays Harbor WA; eat chinook

Southern residents: primarily Salish Sea & south to Monterrey Bay CA; travel in PODS of matrilines— J, K & L: the 3 pods form ONE CLAN; eat chinook

Orcas not abundant in numbers but the most widely distributed mammals on earth, other than humans

Only one species but multiple unique populations

In NE Pacific are 3 orca “ecotypes:” residents, transients (aka Bigg’s orcas) & offshore