Waterfront meeting addresses proposed move of stray whale

Published 7:54 am Sunday, October 12, 2003

SEATTLE – The plan to move Luna – a 4-year-old killer whale that has been bothering boats in Canada since he got separated from his U.S. relatives over two years ago – got an airing at the waterfront Seattle Aquarium.

Giving the stray orca a chance to rejoin his community means “we all have to work together,” said Marilyn Joyce, marine-mammal coordinator for Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

She detailed her agency’s requirements – disclosed for the first time last Friday – for removing Luna from Nootka Sound, on the west side of British Columbia’s Vancouver Island, where he has posed increasing risks to himself and boaters over the past two years.

“The outcomes aren’t sure here. There are no guarantees,” Joyce said Wednesday. But “we’ve got to get going.”

Canada is accepting bids through Tuesday from those willing to try reuniting Luna with his family. The orcas usually stay in waters between the two countries, near Washington’s San Juan Islands, chasing salmon through December and sometimes later.

Bob Lohn, regional director for the National Marine Fisheries Service, hinted at U.S. government financial support, perhaps including resources from a fund designed to cover stranding emergencies.

He also addressed liability concerns from one prospective bidder, saying that whoever takes on the project would be considered a “cooperator” and possibly eligible for government backup. “We’ll work with you to give you the best protection federal law allows,” he said.

Several in the audience expressed concern that the move was being made too late in the year, but researcher Rich Osborne from The Whale Museum on San Juan Island said that for the past four years, the U.S.-based whales remained in the inland waters into February.

“We thought very hard about this,” he said, and in many ways making the attempt now is much preferable to a summer relocation, when the area is packed with boats. Last year, he noted, “all three pods were in Puget Sound in February.”

And, Lohn noted, “we are where we are. … We need to act quickly. There’s a general sense of ‘the sooner, the better.”‘

Canadian officials decided to move the whale due to public safety concerns. Reuniting him with his family is secondary, the agency has said – and life as a solitary wild whale would be acceptable as long as he stays away from boats.

The detailed Canadian proposal provides for oversight of the whale through April if for some reason he cannot be released while his family, or “pod,” is in area waters. If he cannot be released, the agency will seek “long term/permanent options.”

Some raised concerns about those options, but Joyce urged a focus on the task at hand.

It’s “a challenging deadline,” said Marc Pakenham of Victoria, who’s been overseeing the Canadian government-financed Luna Stewardship Project, monitoring the animal from small boats, for over a year.

He was encouraged that fund-raising efforts are under way by his organization, the Vancouver Aquarium and The Whale Museum. “It looks like we’re well on our way to developing a strategy for cooperating with any funds that we raise.”

Costs are expected to be about $350,000 ($500,000 Canadian) – roughly the tab for last year’s relocation of Springer, an orphaned Canadian killer whale reunited with her family after she strayed into busy Puget Sound. That move was declared a resounding success when Springer – also called A-73 for her birth order in A-clan – returned to Canadian waters with her family this summer.

Luna – also called L-98 for his birth order in L-pod – is to be captured and held in a net pen in Nootka Sound while he’s tested for disease, and then moved by truck and/or boat to Pedder Bay near Victoria until he makes contact with his family.

A new complication arose this week when one of Canada’s First Nations bands raised objections to removal of the whale and the possibility that it could wind up in captivity if reintroduction fails.

Killer whales are sacred to the Mowachaht/Muchalaht community, who believe wolves, the enforcers on land, and killer whales, the enforcers at sea, are sometimes the same, said Roger Dunlop, regional biologist for the 14-band Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council at Gold River, British Columbia, on Nootka Sound.

Chief Mike Maquinna’s father, Ambrose Maquinna – who died just before Luna appeared in area waters – had said he believed he would return as a killer whale, Dunlop said.

Joyce said she was aware of the band’s concerns.

“We do understand that this animal is significant culturally and spiritually,” she said. “We hope we can resolve some of the concerns they have.”