The carbon fiber pole holding the tag only weighs about 10 lbs (4.5 kg), and the tag is about 2 lbs (0.9 kg). However as the pole is lowered to a horizontal position, the weight of this 2-lb tag (as felt by the tagger at the pivot point of the pole) increases to about 100 lbs (45 kg). The tagger’s front arm on the pole feels it is lifting 100 lbs, while his back arm pushes down against 100 lbs of force to counter balance the pole. It takes incredible strength and skill.

All four suction cups need to be pushed firmly against the whale. To a person, it would feel like being pushed or shoved as the suction cups are pushed flat. However, to a 3,000 kg (~6,500 lb) killer whale, it appears to be a relatively soft touch. Some killer whales shudder briefly when touched, while others show no reaction. However, all of the whales we have tagged continue about their business seemingly unaware of the hitchhiker they just picked up. To a killer whale, the weight of the tag is like the weight of a wedding ring worn by a person.

It is surprisingly difficult to find small floating objects in the ocean — even when they emit tracking signals. We rely on satellites to give us a general area to search, and then use a goniometer to detect satellite transmissions, and a UHF receiver to listen for clicks using a hand held antenna. Despite all of this technology, it takes hours (and sometimes a day) to find this a needle in a haystack. Fortunately, we have been able to recover all of the tags we have deployed to date.

In the case of A100 (the first whale we followed after arriving in Johnstone Strait on August 20th), we were all excited to see what she had been doing. However, our excitement and sense of awe was quickly replaced with shock and dismay when we realized that the occasional flashes we were seeing in front of the camera were not salmon — but were coming from a plastic flasher used by fishermen to draw salmon towards their hooks. A100 had swallowed a hooked salmon —- and now has the hook embedded in her.

We informed Fisheries and Oceans Canada about our sad discovery, and are sharing these images and video with everyone. It is a disturbing video to see and hear.

We could not see the flasher that was hooked to A100 from our boat or in any of the identification photos we took of her when she surfaced. However, we could occasionally see a reflection of light bouncing off the flasher in the video we shot from our drone.

Frame grabs of the flasher from the underwater video suggest the flasher came from a recreational fishing boat. According to John McCulloch, a member of the DFO Sport Fish Advisory Board who viewed some of our images, the ball bearing swivels joined with split rings to bead chain swivels and the type of fasteners indicate it is lighter gear, and the knots and thickness of the monofilament line are also consistent with recreational fishing gear (25 to 40 lb breaking strength). Commercial fishing salmon trollers use similar flashers, but generally use significantly thicker and stronger monofilament line (80 to 100 pound breaking strength), and most often use crimps and heavier fasteners, instead of knots and lighter snap, to attach the heavier line to the flasher and lure.

If this is Canadian recreational salmon fishing gear, the hook should be barbless and likely made of plated steel (not stainless steel). However, if it came from Alaska, the hook will likely be barbed.

We do not know whether A100 took the fish when being reeled in on a fishing rod, or whether A100 caught a fish that had broken the fishing line after being hooked.

Flashers are used to catch the attention of salmon, and bring them closer to a baited hook or lure. Typically, flashers are placed about 5-6 feet (1.5-1.8 m) from the hook when fishing for Chinook during summer.

Based on distances we measured from the aerial photographs taken in collaboration with the Hakai Institute, we estimate that the flasher extends ~5 ft (1.5 m from the corner of her mouth). Given the typical distance between a hook and a flasher, we believe that the hook holding the line and flasher is caught in A100’s mouth.

There have been very few reports of killer whales dragging flashers, so it is difficult to make a prognoses for A100’s health. Sea lions seen with flashers hanging from their mouths usually have the hook caught in their throat or stomach. According to Vancouver Aquarium’s veterinarian, Dr. Martin Haulena, the real damage to sea lions that swallow hooks with flashers is caused by the drag and slicing of the monofilament fishing line that prevents them from catching fish. Cutting off the flasher has helped some sea lions survive.

In a study published over two decades ago, John Ford and colleagues reported that the stomach contents of two of eight carcasses of resident killer whales examined contained hooks or lures designed to catch salmon, and that another two of these individuals had ingested halibut hooks.

In 2015, J39 (one of the southern resident killer whales) was seen with a flasher dangling from his mouth. The flasher was seen for 5 days, and was gone on the sixth day. J39 is still alive and has not showed any apparent health effects from this incident according to Dr. Haulena.

The hook in A100 appears to be caught in the mouth, and the amount of drag created by the flasher should be relatively small for such a large animal. A barbless hook would also come out more easily than a barbed one. All of this suggests that A100 should be able to feed successfully and survive until the flasher either breaks off, or the hook rusts or works its way out of her mouth.

We have not seen A100 since we made this discovery. It will be important to look out for her to determine whether she is still carrying the flasher, and whether her body condition deteriorates.

We didn’t realize when we put our suction-cup camera and data logger on a member of the D1 pod, 24 hours earlier, that he was just passing through, and was not going to hang around our general area. The D1 whales had been associating with other A-clan whales, which had frequented our study area for weeks.

As the clock ticked down to the expected release time, we began watching the Argos satellite website for transmissions telling us that our floating tag was ready for pickup.

The first satellite transmission came in around 2 pm. When we plotted its location, we were shocked to see that our device was floating about 15 km off the northern end of Vancouver Island. The D1 pod had travelled about 140 km from where we first started tracking them 24 hours earlier — and were now in the open ocean.

The day before we encountered the D1 pod, they were seen near Seymour Narrows and Discovery Passage by

Campbell River Whale & Bear Excursions

. When we mapped out the locations and distances travelled, we were impressed to see that the D1 pod had travelled about 280 km in the space of 2 days. That’s a lot of swimming!

It would have taken the Gikumi about 2-3 days to complete our search and rescue. Fortunately, in our search for a faster boat, we ran into James from

Tide Rip Grizzly Tours

in Telegraph Cove who had the day off and was willing to take us offshore on short notice. Within 30 minutes, we were headed west aboard the Silver Bear towards the last reported Argos transmission.

As we got closer to the Argos location, our hand held antenna began picking up an intermittent chirping sound coming from our tag. However, what would have been is a relatively simple procedure in calm conditions became a daunting and uncertain task in 2.5 m swells. Eventually, the tracking chirps got louder and louder as we zeroed in on our transmitting tag telling us we were very close. It was a massive relief when we finally got eyes on the tiny florescent device rising and falling between the swells — and dipped it out of the ocean. Best feeling ever!

D26 is 10 years old, but its sex is unknown. The video shows D26 interacting with other family members as they travel together through Queen Charlotte Strait.

We were surprised to see how different the skin of a killer whale looks underwater. The skin appears completely black above water, but appears quite different underwater due most likely to lighting.

We shared the images with a pathologist and a veterinarian who thought we are seeing edema (spongiosus) based on dead orcas that they have examined. Edema is a skin condition that should resolve with time, and may be associated with nutritional and health condition, or a change in the environment.

This is the most marked up whale we have seen so far, but all have shown unexpected skin colourations and lesions such as in this video from D26.

Our hydroacoustics team uses a pole with four orange transducers. These send out “pings” of sound that bounce back in an echo.

Based on the echo heard by our transducers, we are able to visualize the sea floor and the fish down in depths of over 500m! We are effectively using the same technique as the killer whales to find fish, killer whales just do it better.

We use this hydroacoustic technology in regions historically recognized as favourite spots for orcas to feed. It allows us to assess how much prey is available for killer whales to eat, as well to see the types of fish present!

By doing so we hope to better understand the differences in prey availability between the northern & southern resident killer whale’s habitats. Knowing this information can inform decisions to better protect and support orcas off our coast.

J, K and L pods, who we were with two days earlier near Port Renfrew, have swum over 250 km to the heart of the Salish Sea. They appear to have followed a returning run of white Chinook to the mouth of the Fraser River.

We had little information to know where the southern residents were, and are very grateful for the help of the

Pacific Whale Watch Association News

. Without their help, we would have never found them in the smoke.

We started our day near Victoria with a rising blood red sun shining through the thick brown smoke — and ended it in downtown Vancouver. Of all the places the killer whales have led us over the past 26 days, we never expected to be taken here. We are in another world that bears no resemblance to the wild one we left just two days ago. It is a striking reminder of just how much the world of the southern resident killer whales has changed.

It always gets windier and noisier as Keith steers the drone closer and closer to Taryn’s outreached hands. During landing, Keith’s full attention is on getting the drone close enough for Taryn to grasp its two small handles without getting hit by the propellers.

Keith is a geo-spatial scientist at the

Hakai Institute

, one of our research partners. He has captured amazing overhead images of northern and southern resident killer whales as they travel, search for food, capture fish and interact with other pod members. He notes that “It’s a magical world seeing the whales from above”, and likens some of what he has seen on his small flight-screen to “watching a pack of wolves working together,” as the resident killer whales hunt down salmon.

Cameras are complicated, but flying-cameras are even more complicated. In addition to keeping the lens focused and the whales within his viewfinder, Keith must also track whale locations, monitor safety concerns, air traffic activity, diminishing battery life, and changing light levels.

Flying at heights of 45 m above the whales, Keith has not seen any of the whales react to the drone. “Drones are a very passive way to monitor the whales compared to using drones over species such as bears and sea otters that are affected by overhead noise.”

The end of each flight comes with a drop in heart rate and huge sense of relief for Keith — and an ear to ear smile from Taryn as she shouts “Got it!” and passes the drone over to Keith.

However, they reappeared this afternoon as the smoke and fog started to clear, and visibility increased. They were headed towards the Fraser River where we have completed two days of surveys for salmon. From what we saw on our sounders, there are a lot of fish waiting for them.

The annotated map shows where we were on the Gikumi when we received information from the Pacific Whale Watch Association News  showing some of the southern resident killer whales were inbound. Also shown is the general area we surveyed for salmon. Thank you PWWA!

Now the hard work starts for us and others at UBC. We have a lot of data to process and write up to determine whether the suspected food shortage southern resident killer whales are experiencing is occurring in the Salish Sea during summer and fall, or whether it is occurring elsewhere in their range during winter and spring.

We will be posting periodic updates of our findings and reflections from our research cruise over the next 12 months. Please stay tuned for more…