Editor’s note: The Orcas that visit Cortes, Quadra and the Redonda Islands are mostly members of the northern resident pod, but there also get visitors from the southern pod.
Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Salish Sea is one ecosystem but Canada and the US are playing by different rules when it comes to protecting threatened whales, experts warn.
Continue reading Canadian and US regulations are at odds in the Salish Sea, and whales are caught in the middle
A new study found that Northern Resident Killer Whales and Pacific white-sided dolphins have formed a cooperative hunting relationship to catch Chinook salmon in the Johnstone Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound. The dolphins utilize echolocation to locate fish at depth, but their small teeth are designed primarily to grip prey, and they cannot swallow large species like Chinook salmon whole. Instead, dolphins locate the fish, and then wait for the killer whales move in to tear them apart, scattering bits of tissue and flesh into the water.
Continue reading Where Killer Whales and Dolphins Hunt Cooperatively
Over 100 people came to the Quadra Community Centre on December 7, to learn about the acoustic dialects and social connections of Orca, Humpback and Fin Whales. Sierra Quadra invited Janie Wray – CEO and co-founder of the North Coast Cetacean Society, BC Whales, and the manager of the BC Hydrophone Network – to share from her more than two decades of research.
Continue reading Janie Wray: Listening to Whales
There have been numerous reports of Pacific White Sided Dolphins in our vicinity this past year. The most recent came from Powell River, where pods of around 200 dolphins were spotted from the shore on December 17th and again on December 28th. One of the reports from Campbell River mentioned more than 100 swimming through Discovery Passage. On their website, Wildwaterways Adventures describes this species in its list of wildlife that fill the Discovery Islands. According to the Times Colonist, “After 100 years of absence, large numbers of Pacific White Sided Dolphins are back in the northern part of British Columbia’s Salish Sea.”
Continue reading Our neighbours, Pacific White Sided Dolphins – to cull or cultivate?
National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Editor’s note: In addition to being marine tourist destinations close to a principal British Columbian shipping lane, Cortes, Quadra and Read Islands are visited by both the northern and southern pods of Killer Whales
University of British Columbia engineers are working to help clear up the acoustic smog that hinders endangered orcas’ ability to gather information vital to their survival.
Chronic underwater noise from shipping can drown out sounds marine mammals — such as the southern resident killer whales — use and rely on to communicate with each other, navigate, avoid danger or locate their prey.
Continue reading West Coast engineers aim to clear up acoustic smog impacting endangered killer whales
