By Peninsula Daily News news services
FRIDAY HARBOR —
Is a killer whale in northwest Washington’s San Juan Islands behaving lethargically because she was hit by a boat — or is she just pregnant?
National Marine Fisheries Service spokesman Brian Gorman said his agency was investigating a report that the orca had been hit by a speedboat on Friday.
However, senior scientist Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor said he carefully looked over the 18-year-old female and saw no evidence of any new injury.
He also said she had been acting “mopey” for days — “actually much of the summer.”
He believes it is possible she is pregnant and soon to give birth.
Washington fisheries officials also were reportedly investigating the boat strike report.
They did not immediately return calls for comment.
Killer whales move in three pods, J, K and L, through Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the San Juans
There was a speedboat in the area Friday — and two kayakers said they watched as it went at high speed through a group of orcas.
“This boat went flying through, right over the top, where the whales had just breached,” said Evelyn Wilson, of Stanwood. “It was sort of horrifying.”
Orcas are listed for protection as an endangered species, and the federal government just enacted a regulation for boaters on the west side of San Juan Island in an attempt to better protect them during the busy whale-watching season.
The regulation doubled to 200 yards what had been a guideline of 100 yards before.
Boat strikes on orcas are infrequent.
The animals are skilled navigators, diving under boats and deftly avoiding them.
However, federal regulators are concerned about not only boat strikes but the harassment that boat traffic causes.
Underwater noise is one of the factors NOAA listed in adopting its new regulation requiring boaters to keep their distance.
Underwater vessel noise may interfere with the orcas’ ability to find food by echolocation, using up precious energy and costing them calories.
Orcas also prefer to eat chinook salmon — itself a threatened species in Puget Sound — adding to their survival challenge.
