A Tribute to Pacific Northwest Orcas

By Mark J. Palmer

Review of Spirits of the Coast: Orcas in Science, Art and History, Edited by Martha Black, Lorne Hammond, & Gavin Hanke, The Royal British Columbia Museum, 216 pp.

A variety of authors and artists have contributed to this celebration of the orcas of the Salish Sea in the Pacific Northwest, encompassing Puget Sound, the San Juan Islands, and waters off of Vancouver, BC. As Nikki Sanchez explains in her introduction, a group of indigenous artists conceived of the book as a call to action by inviting readers to fall in love with the orca whales.

Several prominent orca researchers, including Ken Balcomb and Paul Spong, as well as Canada’s David Suzuki, contribute essays about the status and health of this orca population. Unfortunately, the news is not good. A combination of toxic pollution in the Salish Sea, the loss of salmon runs that used to feed the orcas, and likely other problems such as underwater noise pollution and past captures by the captivity industry, threatens the existence of these orcas, whose population decline continues.

The book also features several indigenous stories about orcas – often focusing on the belief that orcas are the souls of tribal members who have died. The stories are lively and provide a different view of the orcas and their cultural importance to native tribes.

This contrasts with the original feelings of European invaders, who for many years saw the orcas as vicious killers and dangerous to anyone foolish enough to fall overboard. Many orcas were shot on sight by fishermen and government agencies.

Attitudes towards orcas changed markedly when orcas were first brought into captivity. Ironically, the orcas became so popular with the public that captures of orcas in the 1960s and ‘70s for sale to aquariums drove this orca population towards extinction.

“I can’t imagine what a whale is conscious of in a tiny tank with sound echoing off the walls,” writes Suzuki. “I can’t imagine the physiological state of an animal so far removed from its normal habitat as to be constantly stressed by confinement.”

Fortunately, the state government of Washington took action to end the captures, but the anemic status of the Salish Sea orca population today reflects the loss of orca calves taken for captivity.

The loss of salmon runs to dams and destruction of salmon streams from logging and erosive construction along streambeds is the main focus of activists who seek to restore the orca population. Removal of dams from some streambeds offers, in particular, long-term hopes for restored salmon runs. But US bureaucracy has been slow to take action.

Orcas get a double-whammy if they go hungry, as years of eating contaminated salmon lodges large quantities of persistent toxins in the fat layers of the orcas. When starved, orcas survive by consuming their own blubber, but that releases large pulses of toxins into the body. They are both starved and poisoned.

Reproduction is down, dramatically underscored when the orca known as Tahlequah (identified as J35 by scientists) gave birth to a female calf which died shortly after. The orca carried her dead calf around on her head at the surface for 17 days, making international headlines in 2018 during her “tour of grief”, touching the hearts of people everywhere.

The book is also enhanced with many beautiful photographs and artwork. If you love orcas, this compelling book will definitely be on your reading list and a treasure to be displayed.

Let us hope it succeeds in galvanizing action to protect these orcas and their ocean home.

**************************************

Help the International Marine Mammal Project of Earth Island Institute safeguard orcas around the world. Your donation helps protect these iconic whales as well as other species. Please contribute today, and thank you for your support!