As an orca mother shoulders her dead calf through the coastal waters of British Columbia and Washington state for a ninth day, government officials, scientists and volunteers are warning off vessels approaching the grieving whale and her pod.
"We've had enforcement folks out every day to ensure that where there may be boating behaviour that's not appropriate,” Department of Fisheries and Oceans marine mammal co-ordinator Paul Cottrell told CTV News. “[Boaters] are being educated and also dealt with."
The sight of the whale, labeled J35, has generated international interest with the poignant photos of the orca gently raising her calf above the water’s surface. This type of grieving ritual is well-documented, but J35 has carried it out much longer than scientists have observed before.
J-pod, the group of 75 related Southern Resident killer whales, has followed J35 through the Salish Sea during the grieving ritual. Scientists believe they’re feeding the mourning mother from their own salmon catch as she remains fixated on the calf. But officials are increasingly concerned she’s exhausting herself by continuing the funereal tour through local waters.
“[It’s a matter of] the sheer amount of effort J35 is expending with maintaining the calf in tow and also diving down as it sinks to pick it back up," explains Cottrell.
J35 gave birth off Victoria’s Clover Point on July 24. Officials still aren’t sure if the female calf was stillborn or died shortly after and are counting on a necropsy to determine when she died and why.
A sprawling joint effort between Canadian and American volunteers and federal officials is tracking the pod as they criss-cross through the Gulf and San Juan Islands and even approach populated areas. On Monday, Taylor Shedd documented J35 shepherding the dead calf in the waters near Deltaport with the piles of coal and cranes visible in the background.
Officials aren’t revealing the exact location of the pod at this point out of concern more boaters will want to see the grieving whale for themselves, only saying J35 and her pod are in Canadian waters and under the jurisdiction of DFO.
While the agency is warning mariners to stay away from J-pod, they ask anyone who sees a whale in distress from the water or shore to immediately report it to their incident line at 1-800-465-4335. A quick response could mean the difference between successful intervention and a long, drawn-out search for an injured mammal.
Not only has the calf’s brief life tugged at international heartstrings, it’s triggered more concern among the scientific community. Despite a baby boom three years ago, none of the orca calves born to the resident killer whale group since the start of 2016 has survived and their preferred food source of fatty chinook salmon continues to dwindle.
Researchers such as Victoria marine zoologist Dr. Anna Hall say the salmon will ultimately be their key to survival.
“All of the actions that have taken place to date are terrific and we need to keep moving forward,” she told CTV News last week. “One of the important messages is continuing to make sure there are sufficient salmon particularly chinook salmon for the killer whales.”
There are only 75 whales in J-pod, and a four year-old whale known as J-50 is cause for concern as the youngster looks underfed to trained observers tracking the group. Researchers plan to use photogrammetry from a distance in the coming days to see how she’s faring.
That won’t happen until J35 gives up her dead calf and moves on.
“It’s a sad situation,” says Cottrell, who’s urging long weekend mariners to steer clear.
“We want people to respect the rules and the regulations put in place to ensure [the whales] are protected and they're not disturbed and they can do what they need to do. We want this population to thrive and recover."
