A regional issue regarding the marine environment
 

(from an upcoming editorial)

We are Being Watched!


The local news recently reported the formation of yet another group
hoping to "save Puget Sound!" In and of itself, that's a noble
goal and a worthy ambition. Our inland waters in the Pacific NW are
certainly not pristine, but we still enjoy a greater abundance of
natural resources than typical coastal regions with similar
populations. Most boaters are well aware that our experience afloat is
enhanced when we can enjoy cleaner water and observe a wide variety of
fish, birds, and marine mammals. It would be difficult to find a
significant number of boaters who were unconcerned about the marine
environment or willingly and deliberately desecrating it.

The new group hopes to raise the funds necessary to acquire vast tracts
of property around the perimeter of the sound and set the lands aside
to promote conservation and facilitate public access. We're
absolutely in favor of conservation and unobtrusive public access, but
the group's promotional theme and press releases may be designed to
evoke reactionary, emotional support rather than inform and motivate
the populace. The group says it aspires to see "the orcas return to
Puget Sound." It may be tough to see the orcas "return" to an
area where they may have never been sighted on a regular, resident
basis at any time in recorded history.

Orcas form two distinct types of pods; "resident" and
"transient." Transient pods typically feed on seals, sea lions,
whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals. Transient pods, as the term
implies, may range over many thousands of miles in search of food and
can pass through a number of environments in several countries. The
"resident" pods, (including the well-known group that is often
observed near the Canadian border and in the Strait of Georgia),
typically feed on salmon and will normally establish a predictable and
localized range. The customary range of the "southern resident"
orcas certainly includes the San Juan and Gulf Islands, but sightings
of orcas within the normally defined limits of Puget Sound have always
been rare.

The conservation group's claim is dubious, at best. Will sending
money to the organization somehow result in the ability to stand on a
bluff in Point Defiance Park and observe orca fins slicing the surface
of Commencement Bay? Will ferry passengers between Clinton and Mukilteo
be able to observe the graceful black and white mammals spy hopping or
breaching just off the beam if the group raises the funds to buy
several miles of waterfront development rights? It would seem extremely
unlikely.

Unfortunately for boaters, well meaning but under or misinformed
citizens will visit the public shorelands surrounding Puget Sound and
fail to see even a single orca. Also invisible to the beachcombers will
be the elevating levels of PCB contaminants from upland industry or
those suburban developments that have negatively effected stream flow
and spawning habitat for the salmon that constitute the primary food
resource for orcas. No one can hike along the beach at a state park and
see the widespread overfishing in the eastern Pacific, or the changing
global climate that impacts all forms of life on earth. The beach
walkers will, however, be able to observe a lot of boats, and a
potential problem arises if the public draws a conclusion that the
absence of orcas in Puget Sound must somehow be related to the presence
of so many boats.

Boaters should be more willing to modify our behavior on those
occasions when we do encounter orcas in the San Juans or farther north.
Many of us need to be more appreciative of the role that sound plays in
orca behavior. Most humans rely primarily on the sense of sight, and it
is easy to imagine how annoying or disorienting it would be if someone
were constantly setting off a strobe light directly in front of us as
we went about our daily affairs. Orcas depend primarily on sound,
rather than sight. Large groups of boats congregating around a pod
disrupt the whales' ability to "echolocate" other pod members or
forage for food. Orcas thrive in a highly developed social system, and
constant "whale song" communication between members is essential.

As greater numbers of us head into orca territory during the coming
warm weather months, we can be better stewards of the environment by
avoiding the temptation to race across a body of water to "catch
up" to a pod of orcas. Scientific research has demonstrated that
boats operating at trolling speeds create noise levels that can be
heard by whales 1-kilometer away, and will result in "behavioral
responses" at distances of about 50-meters. A boat operating at a
slow speed, and more than 50-meters from the closest orca, should have
only a minimal impact on the behavior of a pod. Boats operating at high
speeds are audible to orcas at distances of up to 14- kilometers, and
the increased noise from a high-speed boat will elicit a behavioral
response at distances up to 200-meters. A 100-yard " whale watching
exclusion zone" is not actually sufficient when a boat is operating
at high speeds.

If we resist the temptation to approach killer whales, stay out of
situations where a group of enthralled, photo-snapping fellow boaters
are surrounding or unintentionally "herding" a pod, and throttle
back to an idle speed when a pods approach our position we will be
doing what we can, as individual boaters, reasonably do. Let us
remember that we are being watched, sometimes with suspicion. Some of
the observers may be allowed or actually encouraged to arrive at a
false assumption that boats and orcas cannot coexist in Pacific NW
waters.