The Current - Orcas visit downtown Vancouver for an ‘afternoon snack’

Episode Date: November 29, 2024

A family of orcas wowed a passenger ferry in Vancouver's False Creek this week. We hear why researchers are also delighted by their unusual adventure into the heart of the city.

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On Drugs is available now wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC Podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is The Current Podcast. All stations, all stations, all stations. There are approximately four orca whales between bridges. Everybody's shipped into neutral. Captain Jack Hemsworth works full-time for Vancouver's False Creek Ferries. He's only ever seen whales twice on the job. Sunday was one of those times.

A mother orca and her three offspring swam past his boat just off Granville Island, leaving him and his passengers awestruck. Oh my goodness. Oh, he's so close. Oh my goodness, look at this. Right in front of us. Oh my goodness. awestruck. It has been five years since orcas were last seen in the area. Andrew Trites is the director of the University of British Columbia's Marine Mammal Research Unit. Andrew, good morning. Good morning. This is really cool. It certainly is. What was your reaction when you found out about this? Oh, I was quite impressed because

this is a group of whales that has been seen elsewhere in its range, up in southeast Alaska, down in the Wadawuka Strait, but never in this close to Vancouver, and certainly not coming literally to downtown Vancouver. I mean, you heard the excitement on the boat. I was on one of those ferries just a couple of weeks ago. I can't imagine what it would have been like if killer whales had just bobbed past me. They were, people were saying that they were in stealth mode. What were they doing there?

Well, they were cruising in literally like ghosts. It was one of these glassy, calm days. And from the video, you see these four pointed dorsal fins just breaking up through the surface, gliding in. And they were there on the hunt. It was mom. She's 26 years old. She's got a teenager, 14 years old and two juveniles, an 11 year old and 6 year old. And she was bringing them in literally for an afternoon snack.

She was there looking for food in and around Granville Island. So what does it tell you that these whales would go right into the heart of the city? This is a busy waterway. There's a lot that goes on there in Falls Creek. What does it tell you that they would be there? Well, it tells us a couple things. First off, it's a sign that the Salish Sea has been in the process of recovering since the 1970s when the hunting and culling of seals was stopped. And since then, we've seen an increase in numbers of harbor seals, increases in stellar sea lions and California sea lions.

And these are the primary prey items of this ecotype of killer whales. They're known as transient killer whales or beast killer whales, and they have specialized diets. In this case, these are the true meat eaters of the ocean, and they only eat other marine mammals. So this is good news that they would be there then. I mean, not so much for the seals, but otherwise. Yeah, no, exactly. It's a sign that, you know, when I first arrived in British Columbia in the 1980s, it was really rare to ever see a seal. Today, if I walk along the beaches, I will find one every single time. It's a sign that the system has changed as we've seen recovery of marine mammals.

But the other thing that's happened is that in the beginning, the seals would all hang out literally in just a few spots. And as the killer whales caught on to them, the seals have changed their behaviors. And they're now moving further away. They're hiding out in the back areas into rivers, some even up into lakes. And so their distribution has changed. And then as a result, the killer whales too have to change their hunting modes. And they're poking around the inlets, the backwater areas. And one of those spots happens to be Falls Creek. Tell me more about the recovery of the Salish Sea. I mean, again, we talk a lot about oceans and the health of oceans. Not all of it, I would say a bunch of it, is not particularly good news

when we talk to the health of the oceans. What's happening here that's good? Well, the marine mammals are our top predators, and they depend on a healthy food base underneath them to support them. And I'd say in this case here, over time, the ecosystem is coming back and it is rebalancing itself. We're seeing this rewilding of our oceans. And it's a sign, as I look at it, as things are getting better. But at the same time, as things are getting better, the oceans are under increased pressure. We're seeing higher rates of contamination getting into their food supply, into their tissues. We've got problems with underwater noise and vessels.

There's increased risk of ship strikes. But I would say, you know, part, for example, of these killer whales coming into Vancouver, it's this reminder that we have to do more to protect what we have. For me, when I look at the Salish Sea, it's our Serengeti. We're living here right next to some of the most amazing wildlife. We have humpback whales. They were gone for a century because the whalers took every last one.

They're back now. And we can now see humpback whales here breaching. We no longer have to go to Mexico or to Hawaii. It's right here. We have a hand in all of this, go to Mexico or to Hawaii. It's right here. And we have a hand in all of this, in the good and the bad. That's right. And at the same time, as things are changing, we have to sort of accept the fact that it's no longer the same system.

It's back the way nature intended it to be, but it's not necessarily the way that people remember it having been. And it is a question of us adapting to the wildlife that's here now. Let me ask you a bit more about these whales that came into, as you said, almost downtown Vancouver. What do we know about this family of orcas? Well, with the killer whales, we can take photographs of them, and each of them has a uniquely shaped dorsal fin. They've got nicks and scratches. They have a saddle patch, the sort of white, grayish area at the base of the dorsal fin. They have these white eye patches, and they're as

unique as their fingerprints. As a result, it's been possible to put together catalogs. They're literally family albums, and we can relate them, at least in terms of the maternal lineages. And in this case, the offspring typically stay with their mothers. In some cases, some of them may stay their entire lives. Now, this is a group of whales that is specialized in eating just other marine mammals. We have other ecotypes here that specialize in eating only fish. But this is a group here. Their total population numbers about 350 animals.

We know that about 70% of them come here to the Salish Sea every year. And their range takes them as far south as California and as far north as southeast Alaska. So they have an incredibly long range where they have to hunt. And they're constantly working these inside waters. When you track their travels, what are you hoping to learn? Well, part of it is just trying to establish their life cycle, their life habits. But also there's a lot of concern about protecting areas that are critically important to them. And as we look at the entire range, I think the Salish Sea, this inside waters between Vancouver Island and British Columbia and Washington State,

it's probably the most important area for them. We have the world's highest density of harbor seals, and it is a primary feeding spot for them. So this literally is the superstore for killer whales. Are you at all concerned? I mean, I said False Creek, and anyone who's been there knows it's a pretty busy place. There's a lot that's going on there. And we heard Captain Jack telling other people who might be driving ferries to shift into neutral and keep an eye out. But given how busy that waterway is, are you at all concerned when the whales pop up there?

that waterway is? Are you at all concerned when the whales pop up there? I'm not too concerned, in part because killer whales are the largest of the dolphin family, and they have adapted to move in and around vessels. Some of them will even come in and ride the prop wakes of boats if they're going at higher speeds. They're fairly savvy about being in and around boats, but at the same time, they do get hit by boats. They can get cut by the propellers. So it is a question of people becoming aware that these killer whales, they can pop up out of

nowhere. And I know from having tried to follow some of them when we've been out in our own research boats, you can lose them just as fast. Are you surprised that they were seen? I mean, if they're on, you know, looking for lunch, they could have not spent a lot of time on the surface, presumably. You're exactly right.

They don't spend too much time. But at the same time, they do have to breathe. They do break the surface. But it's very easy to miss them entirely. I've got no doubt there are many people walking along the seawall that afternoon with their heads in their phones or headsets on their ears totally oblivious to the fact that right next to them were these most incredible animals.

You have that sense of wonder still, despite the fact that this is in part your job, that you've seen enough of these but you still have that sense of wonder about them. Yeah, no, you're right. It's like, it never gets old. And I don't know whether or not it's just how unexpected when you do encounter them, they just appear, and then they go down and they're gone again. So, no, I still have this. Every time is like the first time, and I could feel the excitement people

had in that boat, and I would have been with them. Also just feeling this joy at having experienced something so magical. Lucky them. Andrew, thank you very much for this. It's my pleasure. Thank you. Andrew Treitz is the director of the University of British Columbia's Marine Mammal Research Unit and a professor at the Institute for Oceans and Fisheries.

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