Endangered whales pay a rare visit to Quartermaster Harbor

Fall is typically a time when south Puget Sound residents with their eyes on the water are often treated to breathtaking views of the beloved but endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) pods, who come to the area to forage for their preferred food source — salmon.

By Sarah Low • November 10, 2015 4:50 pm
Multiple members of the Southern Resident Killer Whales’ J-Pod swim in Quartermaster Harbor.
Multiple members of the Southern Resident Killer Whales’ J-Pod swim in Quartermaster Harbor.

Fall is typically a time when south Puget Sound residents with their eyes on the water are often treated to breathtaking views of the beloved but endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) pods, who come to the area to forage for their preferred food source — salmon.

And while it’s not unusual for islanders to spot the telltale dorsal fins off the outer shores or near the ferry lanes, the orcas haven’t been known to come into the harbor. That is until last week, when about 18 members of J-Pod with several babies in tow, spent 20 to 30 minutes inside Quartermaster.

“It’s extraordinary,” said Anne Stateler, aka Orca Annie, of the Vashon Hydrophone Project. “I’ve heard some island elders talk about having seen them come in 50 or 60 years ago, but what’s happened this week is unprecedented for almost all of us.”

But Quartermaster Harbor hasn’t been the only recipient of an unusual visit from the SRKW this fall, as the black and white beauties of the Salish Sea have been seen in other partially enclosed areas of the sound that they have avoided in the past.

A terrifying capture attempt that involved dropping explosives into the water to try to scare the whales into the inner harbor in the fall of 1965 is the most likely reason Stateler can think of for the orcas’ avoidance of Quartermaster for so long.

Their surprise return may not be such a surprise for other reasons too.

With the state Department of Fish and Wildlife indicating that overall this season, the running salmon are smaller in body than expected, the whales could be doing whatever they can to find more fish to keep their nursing mothers and the six babies born to the pods over the last 11 months healthy.

“That is my personal intuition about this,” Stateler said. “The different paths we’re seeing this year are a strategy to keep the babies alive.”

The orcas haven’t been Vashon’s only cetacean visitors recently, as the waters around the island are currently playing host to two humpback whales and a gray whale as well. Keep your eyes on the water, especially from the south-end ferry.

 

All whale sightings should be reported to the Vashon Hydrophone Project by calling Stateler at 463-9041 or emailing vashonorcas@aol.com.