EncDate:18/10/23 

EncSeq:1

Enc#:67

ObservBegin:10:18 AM

ObservEnd:03:50 PM

Vessel:Orcinus

Staff:Dave Ellifrit, Michael Weiss

Other Observers:Molly Henling

Pods:J, K, L

LocationDescr:Rosario Strait and eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca

Start Latitude:48 39.36

Start Longitude:122 44.31

End Latitude:48 24.87

End Longitude:122 49.83

 

EncSummary:

The day started with the relaying of reports of faint SR calls on the SIMRES hydrophone near East Point. The team met at Snug Harbor and left in the boat at 0852. Since the calls on the East Point hydrophone were faint, we didn’t think the whales would be coming down Boundary Pass but might come down President Channel or Rosario Strait. We headed north around Kellett Bluff with the plan of heading east through Spieden Channel, then up President Channel, and over the top of Orcas Island towards Alden Bank if need be. Around Battleship, we started to get rained on hard. We debated the wisdom of going on and kept going. We made it to the Minke Lake area when we received a report that a lot of whales had been seen between Barnes and Clark Islands and the Lummi Island shoreline. The rain lightened up some and we changed our course and took as direct of a line through the San Juan Islands towards Rosario Strait as we could. We reached Rosario about a half hour later and headed north. We had not seen anything by the time we reached the Peapod Rocks so we stopped to take a scan just north of them. We soon spotted our first dorsal fin as it rounded Lawrence Point and the encounter started at 1018 just a little south of there.

The first whales we saw were all of the L47s and L72s in tight group. We got left sides on them as they headed southwest down Rosario Strait, passing the Peapods on the west side. Over a quarter mile to the northeast of this group, we found L82 and L116 traveling loosely together. They passed the Peapods on the east side. Other whales were spread out to the northeast in singles, pairs, and small groups. After we were done with the L82s, we photographed K35 mid-Rosario, while L90 and members of the K14s were spread out behind him. Further west, back closer to the Peapods, we saw the K20s in a loose group. K20 was out front while K38 and K45 seemed to be socializing behind her. To the east of the K20s, members of the L55s began to appear and soon joined up in a tight group minus the L82s. To the northwest of the L55s, the K14s and others stared to group up too while the K20s seemed to stall out and dropped back behind the larger groups. K27 briefly joined the K16s before she and K43 hooked up and began traveling with the K14s. We got left and right ID shots of, as well as the drone up and over, the larger groups. The K16s remained in the area but drifted away from the others. L90 by herself as well as the L82s were also bouncing around the area. Near the bottom of Rosario Strait, the rest of the K12s finally appeared on the west side of the channel. The K12s and K14s group morphed into one loosely spread out group as they rounded Watmough Head. The whales spread out more as they turned west off the south end of Lopez Island. Some whales went inside Colville Island. We had found everyone we had expected to find of the Ks and Ls present other than the L86s and L87. We figured that they were still a ways behind the Ks and Ls back in southern Rosario with J pod. Most of the Ks and Ls were still heading westerly in singles and small groups west of Colville Island when we left them at 1410.

We dropped back all the way to Watmough Head again before other groups of whales started showing up. The front group was a little offshore and was the J19s and J39. Inshore, and to the northwest of them, another group that included the L86s, J35s, as well as J44 and J46 were turning the corner around Watmough Head. This group was cooperative and we were getting both good left side ID shots on them and good drone footage. Then they caught the wake of a tug and barge and surfed away so that was the end of that group. Other whales were loosely spread out nearer to the Lopez shoreline and inside of Colville Island. The whales closer to shore began to move off it and form up. The J14s, J22s, along with J36 and J53 joined together and the rest of the J16s soon joined them. This group was also cooperative and we got good left side ID shots on them along with drone video as they traveled west off the south end of Lopez Island. The J31s and J27 stayed to the north and inshore of the larger group. The whales began spreading out as they passed the north edge of McArthur Bank. We ended the encounter at 1550 a couple of miles southwest of Iceberg Point. L87 did not seem to be present but he has moved around a lot over the years so it is possible he was out off the coast with the L12s, L54s, and L88 who also were not present.

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NOTE: This was the third encounter in which we confirmed all of K pod except K34. When whales are consistently missing from encounters with their social associates for this long, it is likely that they are deceased. At this point, K34 is considered missing. The CWR will share our SRKW population update at the start of 2024, which will include information on any deaths inferred to have occurred since the July 1st 2023 census. For more information on how we report demographic changes in the population (births and deaths) read more.

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