Episode 20 - Whale Numbers

On this episode of After the Breach podcast, hosts Jeff Friedman and Sara Shimazu are joined by Monika Wieland Shields from Orca Behavior Institute to recap the season in numbers. We discuss sightings data for both Southern Resident killer whales (salmon eaters) and Bigg's killer whales (marine mammal eaters), and recap some incredible stories from our latest whale sightings around the San Juan Islands. 

We jump right in talking about a recent November superpod with all members of the Southern Resident orca population and how sightings of superpods in the inland waters of the Salish Sea have changed over the last 20 years. We discuss in detail how the presence of Southern Residents in the Salish Sea and how they are seen more frequently from October - March than their historical peak season of April - September. We talk about how their old patterns have completely filpped and what this may mean. We also point out the confusion in the general public created by having a population we don't see as often as we used to, yet there are media stories of record numbers of killer whale sightings, due to the dramatic increase of Bigg's killer whale sightings.

Our conversation transitions to the record setting number of Bigg's killer whale sightings and how each year since 2017 continues to break previous records. We talk about how much has changed in less than 10 years.

Our conversation continues to some recent Bigg's sightings, including a Minke whale hunt, a steller sea lion hunt, and a once in a lifetime moment for Monika (you'll have to listen to the podcast to hear the story). 

We conclude with another meet the matriline, this time with the T123s: Sydney (T123), Stanley (T123A), Lucky (T123C) and Darcy (T123D).    

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Links from this episode:

• Orca Behavior Institute
• Endangered Orcas, The Story of the Southern Residents, by Monika Wieland Shields 
• Active Pass, BC
• Video: Killer Whales Beached While Hunting Seals

Photos from this episode:

Photo by Sara Shimazu

Photo by Sara Shimazu

Photo by Sara Shimazu

Photo by Sara Shimazu