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01/23/2003
From the depths of Puget Sound, we're in search of answers to growing
concerns regarding the orca population in the Pacific Northwest.
With the help of our friends at the Whale Museum and Lime Kiln Research Center on San Juan Island, we tried to find some answers to some lingering questions.
Serenading the whales
Music speaks to us all on one level or another. But is the power of music great enough to communicate with another species? That’s the question some Seattle musicians are exploring at the Lime Kiln State Park.
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At the end of the longest day of the year, Seattle’s Cantabile choir performs for an audience that may never show up. They come to San Juan Island to sing to the orcas – killer whales who summer in these waters.
A special speaker broadcasts the concert underwater. It’s a gift that, some environmentalists say, the orcas could do without.
“The gift we should give them is to leave them alone,” said Fred Felleman, Ocean Advocates.
The orcas of the southern resident community are in deep trouble. They’re in cataclysmic decline.
One in five whales have died in the past seven years. They could all disappear by the end of the century. Among the well-publicized causes are too few salmon and too much pollution.
“Everyone knows that these are the most polluted whales in the world, that they have the highest level of PCBs of any animal ever found,” said Felleman.
But there's another cause just beginning to get attention – noise pollution.
In murky Northwest waters, the orcas rely on the most advanced hearing systems on the planet to find prey.
“We don't even fully understand how it works. We just know it's really good,” said Rich Osborne, Whale Museum.
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“The noise in this area has reduced their cone of detection by over 70 percent, so when there's fewer prey to find and when their actual perception of prey is even fewer still, what this does is food-deprive them,” said Felleman.
The problem could get much worse.
In the summer of 2002, President Bush okayed Navy plans to use powerful low-frequency sonar in the Georgia Strait. These are bone-jarring sounds equivalent to fighter jets at take-off, already blamed for several whale beaching episodes.
“These animals had massive concussions in their ear canals. Their heads basically exploded,” said Michael Harris, Orca Conservancy.
Therefore, the Orca Conservancy asked singers to make a symbolic gesture this time by taking the speaker out of the water.
“If the environmental community can't get it together, who can expect the Navy to change their behavior?” asked Felleman.
Choir director Fred West says Felleman is complaining about the wrong people.
“We've been very careful about this. We do this once a year. We don't have loud instruments here. We're mostly singing. We are very sensitive to the environment of the whales,” he said.
The speaker transmits sounds about 200 feet into the water.
The choir members feel the music is something that connects people emotionally and it reflects their passions.
Orcas at night
Orcas in the wild are symbols of the Northwest some fear are in danger of disappearing.
We traveling with Seawolf Adventure Media on a high-tech research mission to find out why our orcas are dying and if there is anything that can be done about it.
"We're watching the death of an ecosystem and I see it as a glass half empty, not half full. I think we've got to take some action,” said Bob Wood, Seawolf Adventure Media.
The number of orcas in Puget Sound has dropped 20 percent over the last 8 years – from 99 to 80.
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They're hoping their footage will help researchers get a clearer picture of what's happening to the orcas.
We went on a mission that continued into the night to try out special cameras that give them a shot in the dark.
"This population is declining dramatically, and we need to figure out more of what they need and part of that is what their behavior is at night, compared to during the day," explained Michael Kundu.
Seawolf has shot some infrared nighttime footage of orcas in the past, but on this trip, they were hoping to get more footage, and they were helping Dr. Dave Bain, University of Washington whale researcher, check out some of the latest night-tracking technology.
Bain is hoping to some day follow the whales day and night through an entire winter, which is when most of the deaths occur.
Tracking whales at night is difficult and that night was an example of the challenges involved in trying to save these magnificent marine mammals. But with so much at stake, they're not going to give up.
Please, don't attempt to get your own footage. It’s strictly prohibited unless the government has given you permission.
Orcas wind sculptor
So after you've caught that elusive glimpse of an orca, you may want to take home a souvenir to remember the occasion.
On Orcas Island, there's a sculptor putting a whole new spin on lawn art.
Anthony Howe turns metal into masterpieces. He’s a sculptor who is into heavy metal.
He creates spinning metal sculptures that move and change shapes constantly.
He certainly has put his own unique spin on the medium of metal sculpture.
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“Their reactions are usually more subdued. They just sort of have their mouths open and they're just hypnotized,” said Howe.
Howe was in a much different place when he first found the inspiration to become a metal sculptor.
"I was actually the superintendent for a warehouse that was unoccupied by human beings and I was putting up steel shelving, and I thought as I was working with these steel shelves that they would make great sculptures, so that's how it all got started,” he recalled.
Howe started as a water colorist, but painting just didn't interest him the way moving metal did. He decided his future was cast in stainless steel and other metals.
He has created 400 to 500 one-of-a-kind sculptures, and while the thrill of simply finishing a piece is not as exciting as it once was, seeing a sculpture in its new home is still rewarding.
At the Whale Museum
Whales are experiencing more and more adversity in the waters of the Puget Sound – from declining numbers of fish to toxic exposure to noise pollution. There is something being done however and at Lime Kiln State Park, the Whale Research Center is taking steps to see that our orca population doesn't completely disappear.
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San Juan Island is a destination that holds promise of world-class beauty and the allure of catching a glimpse of one of the 80+s orcas who spend the summer in the Haro Strait.
Seasound is a remote sensing network that combines cameras and hydrophones – or underwater microphones – that enable biologists to study the orcas more closely.
"It also raises general awareness about the whales and the plight of the whales. In terms of research, were trying to find out how much noise interferes with the things they need to do, like communication and hunting for prey with their sonar,” said Dr. Richard Osborne.
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In the San Juan Islands, there is some of the highest density of whale watching in the world. During peak season, 15 to 30 boats per day follow the whales at any given time.
“We've been trying to get people to quiet down their boats. We know that underwater noise is the most likely thing that bothers them. If we can get whale watchers to learn how to whale watch quietly, there may not be an issue," said Osborne.
Among the problems facing our whales is the load of toxic chemicals they carry in their bodies. Puget Sound orcas carry more toxins than any other whale population in the world. They're literally being poisoned by the food chain.
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“We're dedicated to the interpretation of whales in their natural environment. We’re really a program museum. The Whale Museum is in the middle of whale waters, we live on a island the killer whales are around primarily in the summer months, so people can come to the whale museum to kind of compliment their experience,” said the curator.
Since its humble beginnings, the museum acts as a bridge between public interest and the work of the experts.
The future of our whale population lies in the work being done there and in education.
"In terms of their future, it’s not real promising. Until the toxic chemicals are dealt with properly, I don't think the future of the whales is very good,” said Dr. Osborne.
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