9-4-13 Food Today!

Wednesday, September 4th
...the whales didn't leave last night and in fact the rest of L pod - the L54s and L-84 and L-88 showed up today too...
...much more foraging behavior was seen today and I think many people felt relieved that even though it is September, just maybe there will be enough food in these waters for the whales to want to stay a while...we shall see how it develops...
...out on Maya's Westside Charters to go see the whales...they were spread for miles, the K14s in their family group...oops, but one was catching up...

...the whales were moving in toward shore and some were nearing and in the park - it's been a long time since anyone has gotten to see the whales from the park during the daylight hours...this time however, it was getting a bit crowded...the lighthouse, a sail boat, an enforcement boat, a seiner, and a whale, well actually plural...there were several whales passing through this area...

...later in the afternoon when we came out many of the whales were continuing to head up island...a good sign that maybe there is more fish heading to the Fraser River...

...they were still spread out but more active, playful, and foraging behavior seen, along with several social groupings...

...a Canadian Naval ship came along and gave a great backdrop as the whales continued up toward Turn Pt.

...two days in a row is not something we have seen very much of this season...
During May, June, July and August there wasn't enough food for the whales and even though both the U. S. and Canada call these waters critical habitat, in my opinion there is a lot the respective fisheries agencies, that are responsible to make sure the Southern Resident Endangered (U.S.) or Canada (Species At Risk) killer whales have plenty of food, need to focus on...
...how can a win in court provide these whales with food, just read the first sentence in bold in that link..."killer whales have protected places to eat...."  - maybe they could say: " killer whales now have food to eat!" It's great to have places to eat but if there is no food what good are the places?