Did anyone see the news tonight? Apparently there has been a pod of orcas in hodd canal for the last 7 weeks eating seals. They estimated that the orcas have eaten about 8-9 hundred seals!! Now that is one way to thin the population. Now all we need to do is trian those orcas to eat the nets
Buck

Whoooooo Hooooooo......GR8 News! Missed the news article, but I sure hope it's true.....and about time!!

That's the best news i've heard all day. wish i would have seen that one.

A friend was in the South part of the Canal a week ago and the pod of Killers came right past their boat. He said they were on their way to the seal rookery (?) in the South end of Hood Canal.

Way cool. Can someone please tell them there are good pickins down here Tacoma way?

Yup, send them down Seattle Way!

I hope they just eat the bellies

About a year and a half ago a pod moved in to Neah Bay and made short work of the seals and sea lions there. I heard it didn't take very long.

Its great to hear that the whales are working on decreasing the over abundunce of seals and sea lions. But they also can do a job on the salmon in the area. Remember the pictures of "springer" chasing salmon off Vashon.

Good thought about the salmon, except right now there doesn't seem like a lot of fish in the South end of the canal. I think they will pull back out of there as soon as the seals are thinned out.

duraboat,

These types of killer whales(transients) do a lot less hunting of salmon then they do of sea mammals. They keep their "conversation" (you know, the clicking and sonar stuff) down to almost nothing so as they can sneak up on other sea mammmals without alarming them of their presence. Other sea going mammals can hear this stuff pretty good. It is because of this "silence" that makes them less effective in herding salmon for dinner. Other resident type orcas actually emit frequencies (conversation -remember they are very intelligent) on how best to organize and attack or chase the salmon as a "pack" -or pod. -They often work closely together and coordinate their efforts. Kinda like how the humback whales in Alaska feed on krill/plankton by working together surrounding the krill by air bubbles and tail thrashing and a bunch of them coming up through the center for a massive feast..... Springer was a "resident" whale or fish eater mostly.
Good Fishing, Darin

Go orcas, go orcas, go orcas!!!!

Isn't Mother Nature a beauty? <img border="0" alt="[eat]" title="" src="graemlins/eat.gif" />

I couldn't have explained better steelnerves, nice job.

"These types of killer whales(transcients)....."

I'm curious, do we (the Orca research people) think the transcients hunt mammals because they're predisposed to do so (incapable or less adept at the methods used to hunt salmon), or because they just LIKE to?

On the flip side, I know that the local Orca researchers are wishing strongly that the resident whales (salmon hunters, unfortunately) would develop a liking for sea lion meat. It would solve everyone's problems, at least for a while.

I don't know what we'd do with an overabundance of anadromous fish around here.

That report seems a little optimistic. They've been here for 6 weeks and 12-13 whales have eaten 8-900 seals? I'd like to believe that number,but I think it's a bit much.

I was an Orca in a former life. I always thought seals tasted like chicken.

Now I'm fat and resemble a whale. When I go on vacation and lay on the beach, some idiot from Peta always tries to pour water on me, and roll me back in to the ocean.

just droped in for the first time and all you have is good news I think i like this spot even if I am 300 mi from the hood ditch :

Skywalker,

Well my friend, these "gypsy" whales may have various reasons for hunting mammals vs fish -some logical other maybe.... They are quite competent in the brain department and sometimes make decisions on fun & ruthlessness but most often they hunt based on a probably a found niche over time. Kinda like how some farmers raise and slaughter cattle and others slaughter sheep for their wellbeing. Or maybe a better example would be grizzlies inland eat more berries, nuts, rodents and carrion and coastal griz or brown bears eat more salmon and some berries etc.! Somebody's got to keep those seals, sea lions, porpose etc. in check...Great white sharks are not found very often much north of our waters!
Good Fishing, Darin

Hawk, I,m laughing my ars off! That's some funny sheit!!!You should take that on the road!
Of course it could be the gin and tonic talking.