Jason Colby (author of Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean’s Greatest Predator) talks with Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young about the capture of Toki/Tokitae/Lolita/Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut and how Penn Cove almost ended the southern resident orcas and was the beginning of the end of the capture era. “It’s worth remembering that the argument at the time, if there could have been a debate at the time, it was really between whale catching and whale shooting, not whale catching and whale watching.”

Shownotes:

0:00 The voice of Toki.

4:08 Jason Colby on writing the book – or at least a very long chapter of his book – on Penn Cove.

6:05 “They eventually capture virtually all of these orcas behind nets. They estimate at the time around 90 individuals… The estimates vary but almost certainly the entire population of the Southern residents.”

7:43 “It’s worth remembering that the argument at the time, if there could have been a debate at the time, it was really between whale catching and whale shooting, not whale catching and whale watching.”

8:50 “Once they rounded them up, 90 to 100 animals, if Ted Griffin and his company would have wanted to and would have had the market to sell all 90 of them they could have done that. If they had wanted to shoot them all in the nets, they could have done that. There may have been a firearms violation, but there would be no sort of conservation law violation.”

10:30 “This must have been horrifically traumatic for these pods to be torn apart.”

11:20 How activists trying to free the orcas accidentally kill four baby orcas.

12:20 Hiding the bodies… “Whether it was illegal or not, it looks like a murder scene.”

14:20 Is Toki really L Pod or did she learn how to speak L Pod from Hugo in Miami?

20:04 “It was a generational loss.”

21:20 “If Griffin had done what the fisherman who was helping him demanded – which is to sell all of them all – you could have seen the entire population of Southern residents extinguished before we had even identified them scientifically as a population.”

23:00 How to help orcas today and the problems humans are creating for orcas today.

26:04 Toki talks.

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Jason Colby from Mark Leiren-Young’s award-winning documentary The Hundred Year-Old Whale
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Howard Garrett (Orca Network) remembering the southern resident orca Toki/Tokitae/Lolita/Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut and his nearly thirty year fight to bring Toki home to the Salish Sea. “Toki’s legacy is building, building, building by the day… She wasn’t just a circus animal. She was a member of the southern residents.”

Shownotes:

0:00 The voice of Toki.
4:57 How Howard started fighting to bring Toki home

7:50 “I really feel like she would have thrived and been thrilled and so relieved to be in her familiar waters.”

14:16 A superpod wake for Toki?

15:55 The Lummi Nation’s fight for Toki.

20:05  The origins of Toki’s names and becoming Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut.

21:44 “Her tank violated the very dismal standard of the animal welfare act…”

30:15 Getting the news that she was gone.

34:00 Toki’s legacy.

43:00 Toki speaks.

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Howard Garrett at a marine conference in Vancouver in 2017
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Author and biologist Rowena Rae on swimming with salmon, threats to this essential species and their incredible resilience with Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young. “Salmon can thrive if we just give them a chance… if people would just get out of the way, they can thrive”.

Shownotes:

3:54 On becoming a biologist and leaving biology for writing.
7:12 Introducing young readers to the story of Rachel Carson.

9:20 Introducing Rachel Carson and the importance of Silent Spring.

12:20 Swimming with salmon.

14:07 Keystone species and why they matter.

19:oo  Humans Vs. Salmon; almost everything eats salmon  — salmon as “eco-system engineers”.

23:44 How to save Chinook salmon.

26:09 The fish farm jail-break in Washington State.

28:50 On the resilience of nature and salmon, and why to have hope. “They’re tenacious, they hang on … salmon can thrive if we just give them a chance”.

31:30 How we can help salmon.

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Rowena Rae – author of Salmon: Swimming for Survival

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Shark expert Alessandro De Maddalena talks with Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young about hunting for the perfect shark photo, the two orcas who are hunting great white sharks in South African waters, what makes great whites great and so much more! “The reason I love sharks is that they are a perfect art form. I consider Mother Nature the greatest artist.”

Shownotes:

4:22 How Alessandro De Maddalena fell for sharks as a kid and why sharks are cooler than dinosaurs.
9:00 Why he thinks the great white is great: “the first time I was watching a great white underwater it was magic… The reason I love sharks is that they are a perfect art form. I consider Mother Nature the greatest artist.”
13:10 Perfect predators and perfect book titles.
17:01 How little sharks care about humans. “Sharks care very little about humans. In most cases they don’t care at all.”
21:40 “The fear was born with Jaws…”
27:50 “People like to be afraid. People like monsters. People also like to create monsters.”
28:44 Leading Great White Shark expeditions.
33:40 His three best moments with sharks.
37:15 The truth behind the orcas attacking sharks in South Africa. No they are not a major threat to the great white shark population!
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Alessandro De Maddalena

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Alessandro De Maddalena image – featured in Mark Leiren-Young’s book Sharks Forever

Director Josh Zeman (@joshzeman)  on the quest for the loneliest whale in the world and shifting his focus from human mysteries to marine mysteries with his movie, The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52.  “Just when you think you’ve had too much devil-worshipping and serial killers, you go and you spend a day working on whales and everything’s okay again.”

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Show notes:

0:00 – intro
4:37 – There once was a film in Nantucket. . .
6:20 – Working on a whaling ship at age 14.
9:47 – “It was such a cool story that interconnected science and legend and naval stuff. It was such a fascinating journey.”
13:38 – “There’s a mystery here for us to solve.”
13:55 – The first time he saw a whale.
17:18 – Looking at loneliness and why this story became a phenomenon.
19:28 – Explaining the idea of 52 Hertz.
23:12 – Moving from true crime to the mystery of 52 Blue.
24:50 – Catching fire on Kickstarter
28:52 – “Just when you think you’ve had too much devil-worshipping and serial killers you go and you spend a day working on whales and everything’s okay again.”
29:33 – “Understand what your consumerism does.”


Filmmaker Nadine Pequeneza talks about meeting and fighting for the North Atlantic Right Whales Right Whales for her award-winning documentary, Last of the Right Whales, with Skaana (@Skaanapod) host Mark Leiren-Young (@leirenyoung).

Mark mentioning his campaign is authorized by Rayne Ellycrys Benu.
Mark’s campaign sponsorship mention is authorized by Rayne Ellycrys Benu -mly@icloud.com

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Seattle Times (@seattletimes) environment reporter Lynda V Mapes (@LyndaVMapes) on dams versus salmon, saving the southern resident orcas and how Tahlequah changed the world. “All the things we do for our comfort, convenience and commerce are not good for the southern residents. And that’s just fact.”
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Show notes:

00:30 – Lynda Mapes on falling in love with Ocean Sun
1:50 – Skaana introduction to Lynda Mapes and Tahlequah
9:31 – Removing dams and saving orcas
10:47 – “What do we want the next 150 years to look like?”
11:06 – Becoming the environmental reporter for Seattle newspapers and covering the Makah whale hunt.
15:25 – “We have a motto at the Seattle Times – news you can’t get anywhere else.”
19:30 – Hearing about Tahlequah and her daughter: “And I thought, she won’t let it go. I’m not letting it go.”
20:26 – “I don’t think she ever dropped it. I think it fell apart.”
21:04 – “By the time we wrote that last story where she dropped the calf, there were six million people reading that story online.”
21:13 – Scientists know that these very sophisticated intelligent animals grieve and that that’s what she was doing… these are families.”
26:05 – Tahlequah’s political impact.
30:54 – The Snake River Dam vs. salmon and orcas.
39:15 – Undamming the Elwha River – a river revival.
43:20 – Return of the eagles and dippers (a songbird at the Elwha).
46:36 – “Canada has been a real heartbreak for us down here in the States” – American opposition to Canadian pipeline expansion.
50:27 – “All the things we do for our comfort, convenience and commerce are not good for the southern residents. And that’s just fact.”
55:00 – On the differences in dealing with NOAA and the DFO.
57:38 – Names versus numbers.
1:00:17 – “Calling them by this sort of widget number is bizarre and insulting.”
1:04:00 – “The right way to think about these animals is… they comprise ancient societies.”
1:04:45 – “People say to me oh they’re just like us. Don’t flatter yourself… we could learn a lot from them.”
1:09:30 – “Everywhere we live is orca country.”
1:10:00 – On why she has hope.

Killer whales hunting on land? Josh McInnis (scientist) and Justine Buckmaster (naturalist) on their wild discovery that some Salish Sea orcas are hunting seals on the shores of Protection Island and how orcas continue to surprise us.

Skaana shares stories about oceans, eco-ethics and the environment.
Photo credits: Justine Buckmaster

Photo credits: Justine Buckmaster

 

Josh McInnes is a marine ecologist and masters candidate at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries Marine Mammal Research Unit. Josh grew up on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.  For over a decade Josh has studied the ecology and behaviour of transient (Bigg’s) killer whales along the Pacific Coast, but has also traveled to remote locations off British Columbia, Washington State, Alaska, California, Australia, and Antarctica to study marine mammal populations.

Justine Buckmaster is a certified Marine Naturalist currently working at Puget Sound Express. She has been working in the Salish Sea region for over ten years as a guide and educator on whale watching ecotours. Justine works with local marine mammal researchers by providing digital photos and sightings data from her encounters to record proof of presence and unique behaviors of the marine mammal species and populations of the Salish Sea. Justine was raised in southern Washington State near the Columbia River and currently resides in the town of Mukilteo in northern Puget Sound.

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Timecodes

  • 0:00– Intro
  • 4:18– Killer whales hunting on land? Josh McInnis (scientist) and Justine Buckmaster (naturalist) on their wild discovery that some Salish Sea orcas are hunting seals on the shores of Protection Island and how orcas continue to surprise us.
  • 6:52 Discovering Bigg’s orcas who hunt on land.
  • 14:02– “This is something that maybe is brand new to these animals (Josh McInnes)”
  • 14:40– Josh McInnes on meeting rare Gerlache Orcas in Antarctica.
  • 15:01– “It’s kind of surprising that the killer whales are much more maneuverable than the penguins are.”  (Josh McInnes)
  • 19:34– “Seeing transient orcas hunt is always just a awesome” (Justine Buckmaster)
  • 21:30– “I think orcas are basically the epitome of what we are as a species and intelligence or smarter than us.” (Josh McInnes)
  • 27:09  “They’re spectacular animals and I don’t think we’re going to stop learning about them any time soon. (Josh McInnes)”

1966 est Born

December 11, 1969
Captured in Pender Harbor, BC

1969
Sent to Marineland of Pacific

1987
Sent to SeaWorld San Diego

Species: Orcinus orca Breed: Northern Resident
Meaning of name: Irish for “hill hollow”
Captivity History: Captured at around age 4 from A5 pod in Pender Harbor, BC
Mother: Stripe (died in the wild in 2000)
Full Siblings: A21, A29, Okisollo, Ripple, FifeOffspring: Calf (1977) first Orca ever born in captivity but died after 16 days, Spooky (1978), Stillbirth (1980), Kive (1982), Calf (1985), Miscarriage (1986), Miscarriage (1987)
Sex: Female
Weight: 8,335 lbs.
Length: 20 ft.

Corky II has been in captivity longer than any other Orca. She is about the same age as Lolita, both with estimated birth years of 1966. She has had seven offspring with Orky II, none of which lived past 46 days.
Corky II is the largest female Orca in captivity. On August 21, 1989 Kandu V collided with Corky II, which caused Kandu V to fracture her upper jaw and bleed to death.

Corky II became a surrogate mother to Kandu V’s orphaned calf, Orkid after this incident. In 1990, Corky II pushed the mid-section of her trainer and again pushed a trainer in 1994, however, she is known to be a very sweet and gentle Orca.

 

The latest on the Lummi Nation’s fight to free Lolita (Tokitae), ceremonial feedings of the southern resident orcas, rights, responsibilities and reunification from Kurt Russo of the Lummi Nation Sovereignty and Treaty Protection Office. Stories of inspiring actions to save the orcas for Orca Action Month. 

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Links:

  1. Lummi Nation fights for return of relative
  2.  Rembering Lolita, an orca taken nearly 49 years ago and still in captivity at the Miami Seaquarium  https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/endangered-southern-resident-orcas-seen-swimming-off-california-coast-1.4360793

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The post Lummi & Orcas – Kurt Russo on Liberating Lolita & Saving the Southern Residents appeared first on MLY.

 

Dyna Tuytel
“Ecojustice is a national environmental organization, so we have offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Ottawa, and our mandate is to use the law to protect and restore the environment, mostly through litigation.  And we try to prioritize cases where we can set a precedent, so one case can have a broader impact beyond the specific facts of that case.” 

“They modelled the effects of decreased salmon prey, they modelled the effects of noise, they modelled the effects of oil spills and potential collisions with ships, individually and together, and the result of this modelling was a conclusion that with the project they have a greater than fifty percent chance of being effectively extinct this century. Which is pretty stark.” 

“Of course the tankers should have been considered, and of course the species at risk act should have been applied because there’s no practical way that the shipping isn’t part of the project.” 

“People will flock to the side of the ferry to see the whales, and get so excited and go on whale watching tours, and clearly love this species, but maybe don’t know how few of them there are, or how much they depend on this specific area that they live in, or just how unique they are.   The fact that they have their own language and culture, and don’t interbreed with other killer whales, and that there are different types of killer whales.   I think that that information really galvanizes people to care about the whales and to take action.” 

“I feel like I’m fighting on my client’s behalf, but that we are all fighting on the Orcas’ behalf.   Everyone is so committed to protecting this amazing species.  I would describe us as a team that is working for the Orcas.” 

“The start of the problem is that when the NEB reviewed the project, they separated out the pipeline and the marine terminal from the ships.  So they’ve defined the project as ending at Westridge marine terminal, and shipping being related to the project, but not part of it.   And so what that approach means, is that under the environmental assessment act, the environmental assessment is only of the pipeline and the marine terminal, and the tankers were considered and reviewed but only under the more general provisions of the National Energy Board Act, where they consider the public interest broadly speaking and weigh the pros and cons.” 

“So by not considering the tankers as part of the project, and not subjecting them to the same environmental assessment, the NEB has said that the species at risk requirements that are triggered by an environmental assessment don’t apply to its review of the tankers.   So there’s a key provision of the Species at Risk Act, that’s triggered by an environmental assessment, that says that when a project is under review you have to ensure that there are measures to avoid or lessen the impacts on endangered species.  So by treating the ships as separate from the environmental assessment and separate from the project, they’ve said that this provision of the species at risk act does not apply in this case.” 

“The whales themselves can not get standing, but my clients can get public interest standing to represent the interests of the whales, and the environment.” 

“I think the risk of oil spills has somehow been downplayed throughout the review process and since. And just the fact that even in the official DFO recovery strategy it says clearly that an oil spill would be potentially catastrophic for this population is something that doesn’t get talked about very much.  And I think there’s also a tendency to downplay the additive effect of this project.  Sort of saying “oh, it will only be such and such percentage of shipping traffic in the area” or something, whereas it’s really important to keep in mind that the threats facing them, everything is already too bad.  We need to stop adding new threats, and we also need to mitigate existing threats.” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion could wipe out the Southern Resident Orcas. The orca’s unofficial lawyer, Dyna Tuytel from Ecojustice (@ecojustice_ca), is challenging their plans in court.

“I feel like I’m fighting on my client’s behalf, but that we are all fighting on the Orcas’ behalf.”  

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The NEB and how to contact them

Reports mentioned

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