8-5-17 Please Don't Throw Away the SRKWs

Saturday, August 5th

...that about sums it up - so far...

...the worst year ever for seeing the Southern Residents.
...the worst year ever for returning salmon.
...the smoke from the fires on the BC mainland and in Washington state makes everything orange...and with no wind it has like this for several days...
...the T18s came up island the other day...

...inside of Low Island, which is off of County Park...

BUT I find it difficult to not talk about the Southern Residents...they are not here and there are huge implications for why they aren't...
...my last blog post mentioned the bait fish moving up, and lots of it...well, that has stopped... (remember, I'm only talking about a stretch along the west side of San Juan Island)...no matter, this stretch is not at its level of sea life that it has been in the past 13 years that I've been watching...

...some L Pod whales came in the other day...that night at midnight they came up to the lighthouse...their echolocation clicks were extremely loud and they lasted a good while...they were in the area until after 3 a.m. fading off the Lime Kiln hydrophones...seen later that morning heading back out to sea...

...test fishing indicated Chinook salmon had been coming in...looks like the whales followed them...I heard from several that the whales were seen with fish in their mouths and/or chasing fish...now that's a good sign...
...the not-good sign is that they were heading back out to sea the next morning...

...no one knows what will occur next...will it all of a sudden change?...it certainly can...and it also can stay the same...what is important is that no matter where the whales are they must eat to stay alive. 

...we can only watch and wait and see what unfolds as the weeks go on...

...a few images from the PAST...

...keep watch on what's around you...from the small up to the large...indicators...indicators...

...the Transients have filled the empty space...but they aren't the Southern Residents...
...please don't throw the SRKWs away...no matter who tells you something 'can't' be done is only saying words...it's the actions of people who can make the change...
...when someone tells you to 'not even bother' ...well 'be bothered' - bothered by their words of discouragement, push on...it's only their opinion...