Strangers in a Strange Land - 3 unidentified Orcas spotted in Vancouver Harbour

adamcu280 said:
I'm sure your friends are well qualified in their respective fields but just because they may be the CEO of the pacific halibut commission or are a marine biologist (a very broad term) that presented (what?) to the UN, it doesn't sound like any of them are particularly well qualified to comment on North Pacific killer whale ecology. When it comes to killer whales, Jared Towers is an established and respected expert. He may not be the best person to speculate on matters surrounding halibut.

For the record, nobody's definitively saying that the whales are "psychologically trapped"; just that it could be the case given that the whales are not known from our local populations. Jury's still out on what population the whales are from. In the North Pacific, once you get beyond the Biggs, SRKW, NRKW, the populations are far less well known and poorly understood. There are offshores, ETPs, Gulf of Alaska Ts, and likely multiple different populations of mammal and fish eaters in the Aleutians and into Kamchatka and Japan.
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My comment was about the person the article quoted, who is actually a biology student, in Nanaimo. The reporter didn't do a great job finding and quoting an expert, the CBC created some good bold bullets that got us talking. All my friends who I mentioned have way more knowledge and relevant qualifications, then the person quoted, and to your point, I agree are not experts in Orca behaviour, much less offshore Orcas. They are more qualified to provide quotes then a student who has a few dozen hours of observational behaviour chasing whales for tourists in the summer and has a couple of courses at VIU, which does not have a full marine biology program. I'm sure the person is great and will have a long career, but given my limited knowledge should not have been quoted.

https://www.vancouverislandwhalewatch.com/our-crew
 
Lurker here just had to jump in before people start piling on; this is adamcu280 original message, without any edits (which pops up if you have edited a post). Please read carefully because I feel like a crazy person and read it 20 times after reading the backlash;

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This is pescadors quote below, with added text for some reason; note within the quote the extra wording "In my experience as a life-long fisherman and marine biologist, fishers are probably the worst demographic for Dunning people on this board may perhaps be one of the finest examples I've seen of the Dunning-Kruger effect"

Which is NOT in adamcu280's original message. His only says In my experience as a life-long fisherman and marine biologist, fishers are probably the worst demographic for Dunning-Kruger with whales.

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fischer250 said:
Lurker here just had to jump in before people start piling on; this is adamcu280 original message, without any edits (which pops up if you have edited a post). Please read carefully because I feel like a crazy person and read it 20 times after reading the backlash;

View attachment 125021


This is pescadors quote below, with added text for some reason; note within the quote the extra wording "In my experience as a life-long fisherman and marine biologist, fishers are probably the worst demographic for Dunning people on this board may perhaps be one of the finest examples I've seen of the Dunning-Kruger effect"

Which is NOT in adamcu280's original message. His only says In my experience as a life-long fisherman and marine biologist, fishers are probably the worst demographic for Dunning-Kruger with whales.

View attachment 125022
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Thank you! I'm not sure why Pescador's mis-quote was/is so hard for some to notice.
 
kaelc said:
My comment was about the person the article quoted, who is actually a biology student, in Nanaimo. The reporter didn't do a great job finding and quoting an expert, the CBC created some good bold bullets that got us talking. All my friends who I mentioned have way more knowledge and relevant qualifications, then the person quoted, and to your point, I agree are not experts in Orca behaviour, much less offshore Orcas. They are more qualified to provide quotes then a student who has a few dozen hours of observational behaviour chasing whales for tourists in the summer and has a couple of courses at VIU, which does not have a full marine biology program. I'm sure the person is great and will have a long career, but given my limited knowledge should not have been quoted.

https://www.vancouverislandwhalewatch.com/our-crew
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To be clear: these mysterious killer whales are not members of the "offshore" population which are the known shark-eating population that ranges from at least Southern California to the Central Aleutians.

And while I understand your point about the CBC maybe not getting all the best people to quote, they did get Jared Towers who is likely the best person to ask about killer whales in BC (and probably the entire west coast of North America). While the halibut commissioner may have more knowledge and relevant qualifications to provide quotes about halibut, they are likely not as qualified on the subject of killer whales as a long-time naturalist. I don't know Aly personally but I know she's been around the scene for a more than a "few dozen hours."
 
adamcu280 said:
To be clear: these mysterious killer whales are not members of the "offshore" population which are the known shark-eating population that ranges from at least Southern California to the Central Aleutians.

And while I understand your point about the CBC maybe not getting all the best people to quote, they did get Jared Towers who is likely the best person to ask about killer whales in BC (and probably the entire west coast of North America). While the halibut commissioner may have more knowledge and relevant qualifications to provide quotes about halibut, they are likely not as qualified on the subject of killer whales as a long-time naturalist. I don't know Aly personally but I know she's been around the scene for a more than a "few dozen hours."
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A yes, you are the expert
 
adamcu280 said:
To be clear: these mysterious killer whales are not members of the "offshore" population which are the known shark-eating population that ranges from at least Southern California to the Central Aleutians.
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Thank for that-I've seen 'offshores' off the coast of the Gwaii and they're much smaller animals.
 
Dogbreath said:
Thank for that-I've seen 'offshores' off the coast of the Gwaii and they're much smaller animals.
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Very cool! Offshores aren't often sighted so that's a killer (ahem) sighting. And you're correct; offshores are a bit smaller than the residents, Bigg's, and most other ecotypes in the North Pacific. An adult male offshore would be roughly the size of a large "sprouter" (maturing but not quite full grown male) in the other populations. There are a few other clues to tell them apart from the others: Offshores often have more rounded dorsal fins (especially compared to Bigg's); their saddle patches can vary from open to closed but aren't as large or bright as the average Bigg's saddle; eyepatches are more resident-shaped and don't have the downward tilt of Bigg's.
 
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adamcu280 said:
I'm not insulting everyone here. I am merely pointing out that there are a lot of folks that think they know more than they do about things they do not. I'm hardly an expert on anything but I have spent my entire adult life working on NP killer whale ecology and have plenty of experience with the intersection of fish and whale science/politics.

Just look at the local history of killer whales in the North Pacific (and elsewhere) and you'll see a pretty solid pattern of misunderstanding. Remember when there was a machine gun mounted on the rocks in Campbell River to shoot at killer whales? That was around the same time the common knowledge told us there were thousands of whales and if you got in the water with them they'd kill you immediately. Everyone thought Dr. Mike Bigg was nuts for suggesting photo-ID could tell the whales apart. Turns out the "common knowledge" was way off.

Edit: I'm not sure how you got your quote as what you quoted is not what I posted. The last sentence in particular appears to be significantly different.
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Lmao
The gun up in Johnstone Strait?? wasn't put there to "shoot at killer whales" and it wasn't a machine gun to boot!
 
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