This summer I am working for Five Star Charters, a whale watching company, out of Victoria on the south end of Vancouver Island, BC. I feel blessed to do such work, to be outside on the water everyday seeing these magnificent animals and the habitat they live in.
Mount Olympus as seen from Race Rocks Marine Protected Area
This is not my first season doing this kind of work. In fact, it’s my 8th season doing marine ecotourism and I’ve also done 4 years of research locally and around the world. When guests on the whale watching boat find out I’ve been doing this as long as I have they often ask if I ever get bored of it or of seeing the animals. My answer is always ‘No, never!” because it only gets more interesting the more you are out there. They don’t realize that the one time or for the lucky ones, the 2 or 3 times, they go whale watching they only see a small fraction of what is happening out there. These whales are rarely in the same place doing the same thing but are always on the move…as I tell our guests the killer whales (Orcinus orca) can travel over 100 miles in 24 hours!
Members of K pod in the Endangered Southern Resident Killer whale community: K13 (far right) with her offspring from left to right: K20, K25 and K34
During our tours not only do the passengers enjoy watching the whales but we also tell them about their status and the environment we live in. The thing I like about our approach at Five Star Charters is that we like to talk about the entire ecosystem the animals live in. We explain why the whales are here, what oceanographic processes bring the food in that they eat which in turn brings them in to feed, socialize and breed.
Of course, it is very difficult to discuss the environment without also mentioning what has changed in the environment and what it is that has resulted in the reduced population size of many species of whale that we have today. In the Salish Sea this is especially true for the Southern Resident killer whale population which has been officially listed as Endangered in both the Canada and the US (see US listing info here, Canada designation).
This post is about what we can do as individuals, wherever we live on this great planet, to help the Southern Resident Killer Whales and other whales and inhabitants of the ocean; this includes ourselves who depend very much on a healthy ocean!
Recently I bought a great book called 50 Ways To Save The Ocean and I started to think I want to create blog posts, with full credit to the author (David Helgard of Blue Frontier) about these 50 great ideas. Whenever possible I’d like to add my own personal story of how I have incorporated these things in my life and how that has been for me. It would also be great to hear other people’s stories about taking these simple actions to help ‘save the oceans!”
So keep posted to see how I have and am increasing how I incorporate these 50 ways to save the ocean into my life!
POST #1 GO TO THE BEACH - Enjoy the sand and the water and leave it as clean as or cleaner than you found it... Go to WNU June 29, 2009 blog post
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