They exhibited no signs of having been beached. Instead, they swam around and frolicked amongst themselves. "You can even see some of he bigger orcas swimming alongside the calves as if they're showing them what to do," said an employee of a nearby business.
Although unusual, this behaviour was normal.
False killer whales in the “Hawaiʻi Insular Stock” (animals found within 76 nautical miles of the main Hawaiian Islands) are being killed in Hawaiʻi-based longlines at nearly twice the sustainable rate, contributing to a 9 per cent decline in the population each year since 1989.
Currently, the Hawaii stock is estimated at 270 whales and the Northern Gulf of Mexico stock at 1040 whales.
The Valdes peninsula in Patagonia, has become renowned for the Orcas and the spectacular hunting technique they use to catch sea lion and seal pups off the beach, something so called an ‘intentional stranding’ by researchers.
Interspecies was started in 1978, to grant artists the same access to wilderness and wild animals that is usually reserved for field biologists. Their goal and belief is that science is not the only approach to understanding nature. During the 1980s, Interspecies sponsored over 100 musicians to attempt communication with orcas off western Canada.
The chemicals cling to fat and can cause reproductive and immunological problems. While the researchers noted a slight decline in the level of PCBs over time, the chemical lingers on 30 years after it was banned,
Another recent publication predicted that problems from PCB contamination would plague the local orcas for at least 60 more years.
”They don’t eat people … do they?”
I can still remember the strain of uncertainty in the voice during the conversation. It is now several years ago since we sat together in the compartment of the train on its way north through Northern Sweden’s misty autumnal wilderness.
