Strawberry Isle Scuttlebutt
July '98 Report
by Rod Palm

Let's start off with the Killer Whales. On June 14, T109 showed up for the first time this season with her two kids aged eight and two. Everyone looked fine and we were pleased to see this gang, for the first time, travelling on their own. I think that she had, in the past, always been in the company of other Kawkawin gangs in order to improve her ability to feed her kids. Perhaps now that her youngest is no longer an infant, it may be starting to play a useful roll in the hunt. The optimum size for a transient gang seems to be three.

Another first visit for the year was T68's on June 15. Again, everyone was there and they all seemed to be in good shape. T68 travels with her four kids aged one to fourteen. On this visit these guys marauded all the way up into Deer Bay at the head of Tofino Inlet. They were very productive in that they made at least three Harbor Seal kills along the way.

On July 2, T109's were back, this time with Ted's (T41's) gang. We haven't seen 41's in almost two years so it was good to see that all three animals were there and in good shape. Even though these two gangs were travelling together, they spent most of their time perhaps a third of a mile apart. When they were together, there was a great deal of social tail lobbing and breaches. At one point we were treated to T109 and her eight-year-old offspring both leaping clear of the water at the same moment and so close together that they were almost touching.

Humpbacks, Humpbacks everywhere! I have to tell you that this is getting very exciting. Humpy sightings are becoming more common every year. Up until '95 (see Scuttle Butt) we hadn't recorded any of these animals in the study area. In August we sighted one 17 miles offshore and three hung around the outer coast for a few days. In '97 there were seven days of visitation with as many as four animals present on one day. This year we are only half way through the summer and there have already been 13 days of visitation with as many as eight animals present.

Comparisons here are very interesting. At 16 meters, Humpies are noticeably larger than the 14 meter Grays hanging out in the Sound's feeding areas. While the Grays are mostly feeding on tiny mysid shrimp on the rocky shores, the Humpies are doing some lunge feeding on schools of bait fish (likely Sand Lance) in the offshore waters and doing something on the bottom that we have yet to figure out. The normal feeding ground for both these species of whales at this time of year is the Bering Sea. It is tempting to consider that just as we have regular summer resident Gray Whales, perhaps we may end up with a few Humpbacks that will also become annual visitors.

One big plus here is that visiting whale watchers have, on occasion, been treated to three species of whale: Gray, Humpy and Killer. All that along with Puffins, Eagles, Seals, Sea Lions etc., etc.

What's been going on offshore? Well, we took a bit of a beating on the June transect and had to turn back at 27 miles but the July run was great. As was suspected, there were not a lot of birds over the continental shelf but once we got past the continental slope things started to happen. Strong numbers of Black Footed Albatross cruising the air currents just clearing the surface of the ocean swells and a lazy bunch of about 20 sitting on the water in a social group. We spotted a large gathering of resting Shearwaters that required a closer look. Instead of all being Sootys, it was actually one group of Sootys nestled up to a group of Pink Footeds.

Sharks! Lots of 'em. They were readily identified, by the black trim on the after edge of their dorsal fins, as Soupfin Sharks. These are a small species, the largest reaching a length of about two metres. In the early 40's there was a commercial net fisheries for their vitamin 'A' rich livers but it only lasted for a few years.

Marine mammals along this 34.5 mile run were: Two Humpback Whales at 10 miles who wouldn't let us get close enough to photograph the identifying pigmentation on the underside of their tail. Two more Humpys at 14 miles were working one spot and kept surfacing right beside the boat. One curious fur seal and a dead yearling female Elephant Seal with no signs of physical trauma.

This year Theresa Rothenbush is expanding our education programs by designing some elementary age activities. Boy, tough job, but here's Theresa to tell you about it.

Kids Program: by Theresa Rothenbush. Attempt one. Innocent to the world of kids programs. I was thrilled the day before our trial run. I had worked ferociously in the past two months reading, researching, and pestering the town's interpretive guru's for idea's for Strawberry Isle's marine ecology program. It was to be fun, meaningful, and each loving child was to go home filled with visions of ghost shrimp and Killer Whales swirling through their innocent brains. Thinking I would go easy on myself and the volunteers I invited a gaggle of 10 year old boys, most of whom I was familiar with and all that knew each other. Malaya Schultz joined in as our lone girl.

Kechura, Corey and I were primed and ready with cameras and video to record the day's happenings. After waiting 40mins for everyone to arrive, our impatient and noisy group was collected reluctantly and we ventured into the forest to play blind walk. The children were blindfolded and followed the rope that wound through the forest, strewn with objects from the ocean realm.

This game needed a component of concentration and silence. Unbeknownst to myself, 10 year old boys in company with each other do not know these words; a core group of jesters vied for each other's attention with daring feats of body sounds and cheap jokes. Objects of wonder such as a huge Blue Whale Rib, Sperm Whale tooth, and a Bull California Sea Lion skull were passed by most who were racing to the end regardless of the fact they could not see. Then it was time to return and walk the trail with our sight senses and hear exciting stories of these great creatures. But no, I made the grave mistake of taking the three most mouthy boys in my group with poor attentive Malaya. These terrifying creatures revolved their heads 360 degrees whenever I attempted to get their attention or demand a moment of respect. The rest of the day the boys played basketball and a short game of whale and fish with Corey, while Malaya colored.

Needless to say, our strategy is being revised by myself and others before our next attempt, on the 24th of July, our first joint venture with the Wickaninnish school summer day camp programs.

Hi, Rod back. What a brave soul Theresa is, I'd rather face a school of ravenous sharks. I have to add here that while the program didn't go off quite as expected, the kids did learn a few things about the marine environment. Over time, we hope to work out some top notch programs as an ongoing service for the community. Anyone interedted in helping out with these programs, don't hesitate to give us a call. Ask for Theresa at 725-3958.

On June 23rd., we held our 97-98 season Annual General Meeting. When Corey and Theresa went over to get things set up, they grouped four tables and a dozen chairs. Would you believe that we ended up using 'all' the tables and chairs to accommodate the forty odd people who showed up? Thank you all for coming. Your interest is most encouraging.