Remembering and honoring a beloved local orca
Written by CWR founder Ken Balcomb (1940-2022) on December 31, 2016.
MY FIRST ACQUAINTANCE with the Southern Resident killer whale designated J2 was on April 16, 1976, in Admiralty Inlet, Puget Sound, Washington. I remember calling Mike Bigg immediately after processing my film of the encounter to notify him that we had found a group of about a dozen whales plus a few calves, including a newborn. None of them were whales we had seen on our previous encounter on April 6 with most of the so-called southern community of these iconic ‘resident’ killer whales.
Photographs and text Copyright © 2024 Center for Whale Research.
Classic full breach by J2 in 2009. Photograph by CWR ORCA SURVEY Lead Dave Ellifrit.
We (Camille Goebel, Rick Chandler, and I—having formed a non-profit organization) were beginning our third week of a ‘Killer Whale Study in Puget Sound and Environs’ for the Seattle Marine Mammal Division of NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service. I was excited to ‘discover’ any new whales Dr. Bigg did not know. There was great controversy at the time (1976) about whether the killer whale population being ‘harvested’ for sale to marine parks and aquaria throughout the world was identifiable and finite, essentially local, or anonymous and infinite as in mere passers-by from a world ocean of these large and charismatic marine predators.
Dr. Bigg was at the crux of this controversy because he had the audacity to say to the world’s most respected cetologists (i.e., whale and dolphin scientists) that he could identify each and every individual killer whale in the Pacific Northwest by the shape of its dorsal fin and the pigment pattern and scars on the ‘saddle patch’ on the back of each whale. Forty years later, this individual whale recognition is now common knowledge, but in 1976, the validity of the individual identification technique was being argued in the US Federal Court and meetings of the International Whaling Commission.
On April 17, 1976, Mike Bigg essentially proved to me that he was right when he calmly told me over the phone that the whales we had seen the day before must be J pod. He went on to precisely describe each individual: ‘The largest male with a closed saddle and tall, prominent dorsal fin with a wavy trailing edge that gives a side view appearance of slight scalloping, that is J1; he is closely associated with a closed-saddle female that has a small nick halfway down on the trailing edge with a finger-size tag of tissue protruding upward from the bottom of the nick, that is J2; another large male with an open saddle and jaunty dorsal fin that bends to the left about halfway up its height, that is J3; and, another female with a closed saddle and a dorsal fin that looks like it has a human bite-size piece missing from the trailing edge near the top of the fin, that is J4; etc.’ He described each whale that appeared on my film. I was humbled—the only whale I had photographed that Mike hadn’t seen was a newborn calf with mother J4—and we designated it J15.
[J1] is closely associated with a closed-saddle female that has a small nick halfway down on the trailing edge with a finger-size tag of tissue protruding upward from the bottom of the nick, that is J2 ...
ABOVE: J2 and J1 swimming side by side (photograph by former CWR staff member Erin Heydenreich).
BELOW: Compare J2/Granny’s dorsal fin in 1976 (left) and 2011.
We have seen J2 thousands of times in the past five decades, and in recent years, she has been in the lead of J pod virtually every time anyone has seen her. In 1987, we estimated that she was at least 45 years old and was more likely to have been 76 years old (the oldest Southern Resident killer whale at the time). And she kept on going, like the energizer bunny. She is one of only a few ‘resident’ whales for which we do not know the precise age because she was born long before our study began.
I last saw her on October 12, 2016, as she swam north in Haro Strait far ahead of the others. Perhaps other dedicated whale watchers have seen her since then. By year’s end, she is officially missing from the Southern Resident killer whale population (SRKW). With regret, we now consider her deceased. The SRKW population is now estimated to be 78 as of December 31, 2016, and J pod contains only 24 individuals plus the wandering L87. To whom will he attach now? Who will lead the pod into the future? Is there a future without food? What will the human leaders do?
Who will lead [J] pod into the future? Is there a future without food?
What will the human leaders do?
KEN BALCOMB (1940-2022) was more than just a scientist. He was a pioneer and legend in the whale world, a North Star, a guiding light which illuminated a path for tens of thousands to follow. His deep-rooted love of and connection to the whales and their ocean habitat inspired others to appreciate both as much as he did. His groundbreaking Center for Whale Research ORCA SURVEY study, detailing and documenting the lives of the Southern Resident killer whale/orca population in the Pacific Northwest’s Salish Sea, is a testament to his dedication. ORCA SURVEY determined that the Southern Residents needed more food abundance in a healthy habitat to survive, a message he continually heralded to the world—‘No fish, No Blackfish.’ [No Chinook salmon, No Southern Resident orcas].
Photo Gallery: J2 OVER THE YEARS
Five decades ago, we experienced our first encounter with J pod
April 16, 1976
From left to right: J11, J1, J3, J8 (surfacing), J16, and an unknown juvenile.
Please support our ongoing work for the benefit of the Salish Sea orcas.
Please consider making a DONATION to the Center for Whale Research. It will help us meet our goals: to study, conserve, educate about, and advocate for the Southern Resident and Bigg’s (Transient) orcas. Your tax-deductible financial contribution will go a long way to help the Center for Whale Research continue Ken Balcomb’s life’s work and carry out his wish for ORCA SURVEY to continue for 150 years.
We genuinely appreciate your support.
The Center for Whale Research is a donation-dependant 501c3 non-profit organization registered in Washington State.
留言