Winter cruising Hood Canal

[Joefairbanks]

We are really enjoying the opportunities of seeing new places from the water in our area. Yesterday, my wife and I both took a day off from work to go explore because of a perfect weather day. We launched from a small ramp in Quilcene on Dabob Bay and headed South into the Hood Canal. We had lunch in Pleasant Harbor and went back out to enjoy the scenery. We saw a whale just outside of Seabeck, and seals everywhere. The water was like glass, the currents were mild, the sun was shining and we had an amazing day. I'm amazed at how much the boating traffic has slowed down.
Our little 16' Angler was like a magnet wherever we went. Most used description... "Cute". LOL
We only got her in July, but have put over 400 miles on her so far, doing day trips when we can.
Absolutely in love with this little boat!

[robhwa]

Joe; Was that an Orca (killer whale) you saw? I used to go diving to get saltwater critters for school tanks there. I remember so many seals, and then a group of the Biggs Orcas (marine mammal eaters) came in, and then there weren't very many seals for a few years. Hood Canals offers a dead end for the whales to trap seals. We have abundant seals here in S Sound, and Orcas come in occasionally. Usually you can tell because seals get on the beaches, but the hydrography is more complex, so they seem to have more places to avoid whales. Its always fascinating.

[Joefairbanks]

Hi Rob,
We only caught a glimpse, but I am pretty sure that it was an Orca. That would explain the amount of seals hanging out on people's available docks!

[robhwa]

This is a post of hope for Orcas in general, and, well, "Spotty" the harbor seal is on the float in from of my house again today. I wonder if that means I might see an Orca. Yeah, I figured an Orca, probably a Biggs, though humpbacks are coming back pretty strong too. For the first time in my nearly 40 years here, I also saw a humpback adult and a baby in the Straits, swimming east toward Puget Sound. We had a gray whale set up residence here in S Sound for several weeks, and they even had a fin whale near Whidby. You can tell Orcas are here in S Sound when you see lots of seals on our floats and beaches. The idea that Orcas are endangered, though it meets some people's political goals, is getting pretty questionable with the increase of the transient's (Biggs), earlier nearly nonexistent, to become the most common sightings now. https://www.eopugetsound.org/magazine/is/predators-chinook
Of course, you can classify fish eaters as "a distinct population", which they most certainly are, and reinterpret the Endangered Species act to classify them as a separate species in need of special protection. I guess that is fair, but you need tools that work to sustain them, and there are few likely to work. Restricting fishing and boating isn't working. What is great about the Biggs increasing is that these Orcas are eating a lot of now abundant seals and sea lions, which are considered to be the primary predators of king salmon competing with fish-eating Orcas. We saw a pod of 5 (one very small) here probably ambush a harbor seal. Not much happened above water that we could see, but afterward, the baby jumped and jumped, probably happy with a full belly. That may finally be the salvation of the fish-eating orcas, as law-abiding humans are pretty powerless in controlling the population boom of seals and sea lions because of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. It has worked too well. I sometimes fish in early Spring for rockfish and lingcod out of Neah Bay, and used to for Halibut. Over the years I've had increasing numbers of seals taking fish from my line, not a big deal, but annoying. The dock at Neah Bay got overrun with Sea Lions demanding fish scraps. This year there were none, and I asked a kid that came to help clean fish what happened to them. He smiled and said "I heard they got lead poisoning". Well, maybe with less of these pinnipeds to eat salmon we might finally see reasonable populations. With more Biggs to eat small pinnipeds there will be more king salmon, and more food for the fish-eating Orcas. It is incredible to see so much change in my own lifetime. I still have a few years in me, and I'd really like to see King Salmon come back. That is probably biologically impossible with the number of seals and sea lions we currently have, but Biggs orcas may be the unregulated "tool" that finally helps.

[Schuster]

Rob, interesting outlook on how the Biggs whales could help the salmon population. My primary fishing grounds were the Claybanks near point Defiance. The seals got so thick and bold down there that they would sit out there watching moochers fish for salmon. As soon as you got a hook up the seals would disappear and you guessed it, your salmon would be in the mouth of that seal. I learned a couple things that you could get your fish back if you stayed on top of the seal and don't let them come up for air but that is a tough deal you need two people that can handle a boat well to pull it off. The other thing is that when you hooked up a fish don't let the seal see you fighting it. But as far as the orcas go, I hope you're right and that the Biggs can thin the population of of the seals to a point that it would be a pleasure to see one. Right now, to my uneducated eye, they are very over populated and need to be thinned out. Bring on the Biggs.

[thataway]

Send some of those Orca to S. Calif. (San Diego, Dana Point, and Newport Beach to take out some of those sea lions which are getting on people's docks and boats. My son has had to fend off sea lions to get aboard his C Dory and 25 at Dana Point.

[Donald Tyson]

It actually a federal crime to chase or disturb them. In the Bay Area they’ve taken over boats and the owners must leave them and wait for them to leave on their own.
Newsomes Nusances.

[colbysmith]

The police at the San Diego pier use water cannons to move them. I've seen the pilot boat captains use leaf blowers. I found whipping towels worked too.

[Marco Flamingo]

We are in Dewatto Bay on Hood Canal. I was surprised to still see Chum salmon jumping out in front of us this late. I guess that's why the Orca are here. Usually when the Orca are nearby the bay fills up with 30-40 seals in the shallow water. It's fun to watch them swim under water when it is only 4 feet deep. They probably don't know the difference between resident Orca (salmon eaters) and Bigg's (seal eaters). Best to play it safe and swim in the eel grass till they are gone.

Mark