ORCAS: Photos from Monday’s visit; new research buoy to monitor undersea noise

| Seen at sea | West Seattle news | Whales | Wildlife

Two orca-related items:

WHALES’ MONDAY VISIT: We mentioned orcas were in the area again Monday. Today, two photos from Trileigh Tucker, who says, “There were about 4 adult orcas and one or maybe even two babies – waiting to hear back from Orca Network about the babies. ON identified them as T124s. The lighting was just gorgeous.”

RESEARCH BUOY: As mentioned in our daily preview list, a King County research boat was out this morning deploying a buoy to listen in on undersea noise, a major threat to orcas. Here’s the video recorded during the livestream and Q&A:

This isn’t off West Seattle – closer to Edmonds – but the research over the next three months will be of interest to orca-watchers all around Puget Sound. Full details from King County are here.

Protect Orcas! February 1, 2022 (5:37 pm)

Many thanks for highlighting the issue of undersea noise’s impact to our beloved orcas, who need and deserve our protection. Thank you also for these gorgeous photos! If you haven’t enjoyed this heartfelt presentation on the successful reunion 20 years ago of baby orca Springer (now a mother with two calves and one on the way!) with her pod, you can view that with this link! Celebrate Springer 2020: https://vimeo.com/444066715

For orca mammas February 2, 2022 (7:28 pm)

Beautiful ♥️ thank you for sharing the link,
and a spout out to all the folks involved in helping Springer ;)

awesome work

anonyme February 2, 2022 (7:03 am)

And when it’s ‘discovered’ (golly, who could have guessed?) that T5 and other forms of traffic are contributing to detrimental, even lethal amounts of noise – what will happen? Will T5 be shut down? Cargo ships banned, or (gasp) regulated? Will commerce take a hit to accommodate marine life? That’s what I thought. Really tired of this too little, too late grandstanding.

WSB February 2, 2022 (11:09 am)

T-5 is currently not even averaging one ship a week. Among the other things mentioned during the event yesterday, data from this will be used for Quiet Sound, a program explained in this report
https://westseattleblog.com/2021/07/followup-is-terminal-5s-modernization-bad-news-for-endangered-resident-orcas-one-environmentalist-turned-port-commissioner-says-no/

Donna, The Whale Trail February 2, 2022 (11:06 am)

Thanks for sharing that link, Protect Orcas! When the pandemic set in we thought the world needed to hear a story of hope. This year we’re celebrating the 20th anniversary of Springer’s rescue. Listen to a recent KNKX story about the rescue here: https://bit.ly/3gkqaLq

The SMRU study will shed welcome light on the local soundscape. What we need in equal measure is the courage to act on what we already know. A 2021 NOAA study found that female southern resident orcas stop foraging when boats approach closer than 400 yards.

We have made great progress by licensing commercial whale-watchers, who are now required to stay 1000 yards away from southern residents most of the year. Current laws for recreational boaters are simply not enough.

You can help! Take the pledge at givethemspace.org, and give the whales the acoustic space they need. Follow The Whale Trail to watch whales from shore, and report any sightings to Whale Report. Together we can turn the tide for the southern residents, the same as we did for Springer.

anonyme February 2, 2022 (1:05 pm)

The linked report is the opinion of a self-declared ‘environmentalist’ who now represents the interests of the Port. He can hardly be relied upon for an objective view of the impact on orcas by Port traffic. Nor is commercial traffic the only problem; recreational traffic is considered by some to be even worse due to higher speeds and more reckless behavior. Quiet Sound is an entirely voluntary program that encourages vessels to slow down when orcas are in the area. It also encourages the use of shore power. Neither is required, and there is no enforcement. It’s a feel-good PR move that may help to some small degree but falls far short in terms of the bigger and braver strategies it would take to save the southern residents.