Odds and Ends

By William Rossiter

Another captive orca injured a trainer in late November, when Kasatka, a 30 year old female, interrupted the carefully staged finale at SeaWorld San Diego. She was supposed to "shoot out of the water so (the trainer) could dive off her nose", but instead held his foot in her mouth at the pool's bottom. Within a minute, as the crowd fidgeted with the delay, the whale let the trainer go. Instead of getting out of the water he tried to rub her back; she took him down again for a minute. Other trainers apparently were splashing the water and no doubt signaling the whale with underwater cues. When the whale again released the trainer a net was rigged to keep them apart. Besides shock the trainer's injuries included a broken foot. Both had been involved in a similar event years before. Another occurred at SeaWorld with a different whale and trainer a few weeks earlier.

SeaWorld is well prepared to minimize such events with bland yet revealing statements like "animals can have a mind of their own," while the media prefer more dramatic theories. From CSI's perspective these shows demand that an orca perform unnatural behaviors on exact cues day after day after day, occasionally with a person that has unknowingly offended or injured the whale, or during some distracting events in the whale's otherwise bland life, such as being separated from her calf. We think it is amazing that orcas do not protest more often. But then, maybe they do during practices, when the public would never hear about it.

Since one of the first orca "protests", by Corky at Marineland of the Pacific, trainers have been trained to relax to save their air, "reassured" that, as with Corky's protest, even if they drown they will be recovered and resuscitated. Some events may be unintentional mistakes, others simply the whale's attempt to make a point without intending to cause injury. By all accounts Corky released the trainer as soon as she inhaled water and technically drowned, and later appeared embarrassed. But some whales have not moderated their actions, and at least one trainer has died from an apparent attack.

SeaWorld trainers say they understand the risks involved, but they "live for the reward." You would expect the same from race car drivers or fighter pilots, and it is the risk of danger that brings many people to see air shows, races, and orca shows.

Gasper was euthanized at the Georgia Aquarium in January, after the excellent medical care was unable to save the beluga whale. Gasper, 17, had been imported from an amusement park in Mexico City in October 2005, with the Aquarium essentially rescuing both whales from inhumane conditions. His chronic illnesses in Mexico had weakened his immune system, and he was removed from public exhibits in April, after having been diagnosed with the bone disease osteomyelitis. An unwanted controversy is expected to erupt if the Georgia Aquarium now seeks to import one or more belugas from Canada or other sources.

The "Southern Resident" orcas of Puget Sound finally received a proposed Recovery Plan from NMFS in late November, as well as a separate critical habitat designation for much of their range. The Plan includes new research, better coordination with other government agencies and cleanup and closer monitoring of polluted sites, but seems to ignore toxic chemicals that threaten the whales. Eighteen military sites were excluded from the critical habitat area, which also fails to include the Olympic Coast National Marine  Sanctuary, Hood Canal and shallow waters. Decreased prey availability, disrupting vessel traffic, and pollution were the three primary threats that led to a decline in the population, which may be down to 87 whales as three adults have not been seen and are feared dead.

What does a whale or dolphin sound look like? For several years Mark Fischer of AquaSonic has been creating wavelets of sounds from a variety of species, and the results are far more than fascinating art. He translates complex cetacean communications into an equally complex visual flow that provides a visceral awareness that they must be communicating something. His "polar-form movie" of a minke whale's "boing" sound is now on Google Video at http://tinyurl.com/y8szrz. The sound and image are slowed to 1/8th speed for easy human hearing, but you have to see it to believe it. Other samples from Mark are linked from that page. "Seeing" the calls this way allows us to sense some of their complexity. Mark's work should stir up discussions of cetacean communications, and about time too.

The NMFS Marine Mammal Health & Stranding Response Program Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) will become available for public review and comment in January or February. The PEIS, supporting documents, and other information will be available on the NMFS website at: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/health/eis.htm. The public comment period currently is unknown, and may only be 30 days.