Community newspaper serving Key Peninsula residents

 


Key Peninsula Tides For
May 2008
 

 By Bill Trandum
Special to KP News
 

May 2008
KP Tide Tables
:

May PDF file       
 

 

ORCAS

Anyone who visits the Key Peninsula Civic Center in Vaughn, can see the Orca whale carved from a log, painted its distinctive black and white, protected by a small shed roof. The whale greets visitors to the center.

It is a memento from a time when Orcas were prolific in Case Inlet, and even more prolific in Carr Inlet. Now, of course, we’re thrilled any time we encounter any of these beautiful creatures in our waters.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, a unit of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, a unit of the U.S. Department of Commerce (whew!) in January 2008 issued a Recovery Plan for Southern Resident Killer Whales.

Southern, for those who may wonder, refers to whales that reside in Washington and British Columbia during the late spring, summer and fall.

Resident means they belong to pods that hang around like a family under the direction of one or more matriarchal (big-momma) females.  Two other groups, transients and offshores, belong to pods that forage far beyond any one resident area.

Killer Whales, of course, refer to Orcinus orca, the world’s largest member of the dolphin family, known to us as the Orca Whale.

Their decline is attributed to the fact that we’ve fouled our water, killed off too many salmon (and the forage fish that support them), and have too many noisy and oily ships plowing around to make it comfortable for the pod members. 

They know when they’re welcome, and if not, they move away. Salmon constitute upwards of 90 percent of the Orcas’ diet, with larger sized Chinooks (Kings) being their favorite meal.  Hmm just like us, except their Moms allow them to talk with their mouths full.

The NMFS plan is to address all the factors believed to contribute to the decline of the population and hope like crazy that within 28 years, at the rate of 2.3 percent per year, the population will increase to the point that Orcas will no longer be an endangered species.

The last reported sighting of Orcas near the Key Peninsula was in July 2006. We have to make the neighborhood nicer for them if we want them to come back home. 


Bill Trandum is a retired U.S. Navy captain, a recreational sailor and a student of saltwater tides, currents, atmospheric influences and the life forms affected by them.

 

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