R/V Cheena

We departed Snug Harbor shortly after 10 AM and headed up to the Georgia Basin to look for J Pod individuals. We spent a good while searching until we were finally able to spot them just east of the coal docks right in the ferry lane. We followed them as they slowly traveled, modified rested, then socialized towards the end of our day. There were three different circumstances where we suspected a sample was near but hypothesized that they either sunk or dispersed before we were able to collect them. We returned back to Snug Harbor just after 6 PM.

We were lucky to be joined by research volunteer, Stewart Macintyre! He has been taking pictures seasonally with the Center for Whale Research for almost 30 years. It was great to have an experienced photographer on board with us to contribute to our conservation research photo catalog! We use photos to identify individuals present during our fecal sample collection. We can comapre results from DNA analysis against photos to validate our analysis results. Photos also allow us to identify skin abnormalities as part of our health assesment work. We departed Snug Harbor around 2:30 PM to align with the timing of the slack tide. We caught J pod individuals coming around East Point and trailed them towards Turn Point on Stewart Island. The water conditions were great in the beginning but soon turned fairly choppy as well. We returned to Snug Harbor around 5:45 PM.

We departed Snug Harbor at 8 AM following reports of Southern Resident killer whales north of San Juan channel. We were joined by Sarah Teaman, a research assistant from our partners at SeaDoc Society. We headed west of Waldron Island where we searched for whales until around 1:30 pm. With no new reports or sightings, we decided to return to Snug Harbor. As we were offloading gear from the research vessel, we received a report of sighting of J pod and L pod members near East Point. We raced back to the boat, loaded up, and headed out to join up with them. We initially encountered the whales near the lighthouse on Stewart Island and remained behind them as they headed south. Fairly quickly after locating them, Eba detected a scent and led us to collect several fecal samples. We then followed J36, J31, and J56, who were soon joined by some other J pod members. After a long day on the water, we returned back to Snug Harbor just after 6 PM as the whales were traveling south.

After departing Snug Harbor at 8 AM, we encountered J pod orcas and trailed them south along the west side of San Juan Island. They were traveling quickly, displaying surface behaviors like tail slapping, breaching, cartwheels, rolling, and frequent porpoising. We collected environmental and behavior data and sampled the group until we returned to Snug Harbor just after 5 PM.

Just after 10 AM, our team departed Snug Harbor and turned north towards Henry Island. We encountered a large pod of mostly J pod whales on the island’s west side. Most of the pod moved quickly past us, but about five individuals fell behind the leading group and exhibited surface behaviors like lunging, surface rolls, spy hops, pec slaps, and tail slaps. We then saw that this group of 5 orcas was chasing a juvenile harbor porpoise. 2 orcas left the group soon after, and the three others proceeded to pass the juvenile porpoise for another 20 minutes. Upon receiving permission from the stranding network, we attempted to collect the dead harbor porpoise for an examination and necropsy, but we abandoned the effort when one of the juvenile whales surprised us and recaptured the body of the harbor porpoise. We followed the group for about 30 minutes waiting to collect the body should the group of orcas abandon it, but J36 held onto it until it presumably sank. We continued down the west side of San Juan Island, following the group as they spread throughout Haro Strait. We resumed our search for fecal samples until returning to Snug Harbor just after 5 PM.

Read more about this unique encounter here.