5/12-14/14 A Little of This and a Lot of TRASH

Monday-Wednesday, May 12-14th
...very little, that we humans are aware of, going on in the killer whale world in this area...
...after seeing a couple minke whales off the west side they and others have been seen way south, almost to Puget Sound...thanks Capt. Jim - it was a long trip down there and luckily it was flat calm...

...many Steller sea lions at Whale Rocks and some young juveniles too...

...there was a report of a Steller sea lion hauled out on the Salmon Bank buoy with a 'strap' around it's neck...we didn't see it but it happened to be a day we were picking up a lot of OCEAN TRASH...here's a sampling...

...we did see a couple branded Steller sea lions...
...can't quite make out the number on this guy...

...183R - well he's around here a lot in the winter...one day this week he was at Green Pt., off the north end of San Juan Island...and the next - here he is at Whale Rocks off the south end!

...finding that Steller with the strap around it's neck will be by chance...since they move about so much...and they usually leave the area by the end of this month and head back to their breeding colony...maybe someone will see it again...unfortunately there isn't much that can be done - except for the humans to stop letting trash get into the ocean...
...I played with this image for the effect...just liked the way the harbor seals were lying about...

...then yesterday, while out, we got word a couple killer whales had been sighted...off we went to join in on the search...
...T93 and T97 and they looked like they were on their way to the lighthouse!

...they zigged and zagged and didn't ever get that far across Haro Strait...

...a few fun pics too...Dave Ellifrit on the Center for Whale Research boat and Simon on his Ocean Ecoventures boat...

...while on the way back we picked up more trash...another float - there are so many floats out there - adrift - I think someone could open up a store and sell them...we put one of the passengers to work...

...this piece was so large it took dad and son to get it in the boat...good job fellas!

...this stuff comes in all sizes and this piece was disintegrating rapidly...

...as long as we are in US waters we can pick up trash, once in Canadian waters we cannot pick up anything from the surface...same goes for the Canadians in US waters...
...we continued on our way...spotting an elephant seal!

...a bald eagle coming in for a landing...

...and as we were looking at the wildlife on Low Island, just off County Park, one of the passengers noticed a harbor seal that looked like it had something around its neck...

...that looks like a plastic tie...though you can't see it in these two images the same 'skinning' looked to be occurring on the other side of the seal...I reported it to The Whale Museum's Hot Line for sightings and strandings...it's not a stranding but I wanted this documented...
...I can only imagine what happens to thousands of animals in the ocean who suffer and die from these types of situations...

...no word from J, K or L pods...I believe they will be here - when the salmon arrive too...when that will be is the question...