For the first time in half a century, Southern Resident orca whales returned to Whidbey Island’s Penn Cove.
The endangered whales made their presence known early …
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For the first time in half a century, Southern Resident orca whales returned to Whidbey Island’s Penn Cove.
The endangered whales made their presence known early last month, breaching, tail-slapping and exploring the waters near Coupeville.
The sighting was emotional for many, including Howard Garrett, the co-founder of the Whidbey-based Orca Network.
“At one point during their visit, a mother and her 20-year-old son passed near the Captain Whidbey Inn, where orca whales were once netted and strapped to the sides of fishing boats in the 1970s,” Garrett said. “They circled back and forth for at least 90 minutes, while the rest of the family did the same a quarter mile away, near where the mothers lost their young.”
Penn Cove on Aug. 8, 1970, was the site of a large-scale operation to capture the whales.
Eighty whales were rounded up using explosives, speedboats and planes, Garrett recalled. Seven were captured and sold to marine parks, while others drowned in the process.
“Ocean Sun,” one of the whales present during the return, survived the captures; the rest of the group was born afterward. Ocean Sun may carry the memory of those traumatic events, Garrett said, which could explain why the whales haven’t returned until now.
“They seemed to know what happened there,” Garrett said. “That’s how they were behaving. It tells us they have the ability to communicate memories.”
Garrett also spoke with Samish tribal elder Rosie Cayou about the whales’ return.
“She felt they were releasing the spirits of the dead and kidnapped whales,” he said. “It may have been a sort of ritual to honor those spirits, reclaim the waters and overcome the trauma.”
While speculation remains about why the whales returned to the cove, one thing is clear: they weren’t there for food.
“It had nothing to do with fish,” Garrett said. “They weren’t foraging at any point.”
The Southern Residents spent a total of 28 days in Puget Sound, before heading out to the San Juan Islands, according to Orca Conservancy.
On Nov. 28, they were spotted off the coast of Victoria, B.C. near Race Rocks, according to an Orca Network sighting report.
