T60's with New Calf

Today we were fortunate to see one of the youngest orcas in the Salish Sea these days. He is recently born this year and so fun to watch. That is after a government-imposed delay because these Biggs Orca entered a Southern Resident Killer Whale Sanctuary Zone.

This is the T60’s with a new calf, and we loved it. We lost a good bit of time waiting on this pod of Transient Killer Whales, also known as Biggs Orca to exit the Whinyville Protection Zone. A zone that Transport Canada has a Geo-Fence to keep track of who enters.

This is one of two zones close by in Canadian waters that are designated as Southern Resident Killer Whale Sanctuary Zones. There were no Resident Whales within a hundred miles or more, and yet these sections of the straits are completely off-limits.

These areas also happen to be below and insight of multimillion-dollar cliff dwelling homes. Not in the less inhabited areas of the same islands. Frustrating to see how the government prioritizes and legislates.

By the way, I got close enough to the boundary of this zone a few weeks ago to trigger a proximity alarm. I received a cautionary letter letting me know about it. After talking to Transport Canada, I learned my duration was one minute, and even though I did not cross into the zone, I was close enough that with the inherent error of GPS and equipment to trigger the alarm. I do obey the law, and even though I think this one lacks intelligence, I still stay out of the zone that is about 3/4 of a mile out from the clifftop homes all the way to shore. The letter spelled out the penalty for violating the zone may result in a penalty of $1,000,000 and or imprisonment of 18 months. I guess I am lucky I am a US Citizen, with the exchange rate my penalty would only be $760,000.

I will not violate the law, but my big question is, “How is keeping boats out of an area where there are no whales that the zone is supposedly for, helping the whales?”

Forty-five minutes later, the whales were leaving the area, and we could view them once again. We saw them for several surfacings, and then it was time to start back and see other life on the way back.

Another law regarding whale watching SRKW’s in Canada is that it is illegal to do so from a boat as of June 1st this year. If the orca has been identified as residents, you must leave the area and others are not to approach. I have an opinion there too. The sentinels of the Rezzies have been removed from the scene. It is the whale watchers who are flying the “Go Slow, Whales Present” flags, flagging down fast boats, taking pics of blatant violators of the whale’s space, etc.

WDFW believes we are a benefit being with the whales as a part of their protections. One of WDFW’s officers assigned to the protection of the whales came to Friday Harbor to teach a class on collecting evidence of harassment and submitting to WDFW to follow up with citations made out to violators. Transport Canada obviously disagrees.

We made our way to a pair of Humpback Whales. One of them was Vivaldi, and the other I did not get an ID.
Also included are a couple of shots of a Bald Eagle and a younger Great Blue Heron.