Orcas Fight Back

In the Bering Sea, near the edge the continental shelf, fishermen are trying to escape a predator that seems to outwit them at every turn, stripping their fishing lines and lurking behind their vessels.

 

The predators are pods of killer whales chasing down the halibut and black cod caught by longline fishermen. Fishermen say the whales are becoming a common sight — and problem — in recent years, as they've gone from an occasional pest to apparently targeting the fishermen's lines.

Fishermen say they can harvest 20,000 to 30,000 pounds of halibut in a single day, only to harvest next to nothing the next when a pod of killer whales recognizes their boat. The hooks will be stripped clean, longtime Bering Sea longliner Jay Hebert said in a phone interview this week.

Click on the link to see the video and read the rest of the article.

"Fresh Dead and Not Smelly"

On Friday evening, after all the human patients were finished for the day at the Alaska Spine Institute's imaging center, a dead killer whale calf underwent a CT scan and an MRI.

The whale offered a rare opportunity for extensive study, both because of the small size and good condition.

"It's very sad when a baby whale dies, but the amount of scientific information we are going to be able to get over the next 24 hours is going to be tremendous," said Judy St. Leger, director of pathology and research for SeaWorld who has studied killer whales for 13 years.

Russ Andrews, a marine mammal professor at UAF, checks the position of a 250-pound baby killer whale in a CT scanner at the Alaska Spine Institute on Friday, August 6, 2013. Andrews and Stephen Raverty, a veterinary pathologist with the British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture are studying the Orca calf that washed ashore on St. Paul Island on Tuesday, September 3, 2013. The whale also underwent a MRI scan and then a necropsy was performed at UAA to try to determine the cause of death and learn about the Orca.

BOB HALLINEN — Anchorage Daily News

... "It's to take advantage of a portable killer whale. Usually they are so much bigger," said Mahoney, who picked up the orca calf Friday at Stevens International Airport in a government truck.

The young whale was found Tuesday washed up on St. Paul Island in the Bering Sea. A tour guide leading a group of birders along a beach at Northeast Point called it in, said Pamela Lestenkof, eco manager for the tribal government of St. Paul. It was 7 feet, 3 inches long.

The whale was in good condition, "fresh dead" and not smelly, Lestenkof said.

Read the whole story here.

Troll for a Halibut & Catch an Orca

From The Blaze:

If you’ve ever gone fishing, you know that moment when you’re about to pull the creature out of the water is one of the most exciting — and even the most frustrating. A group of anglers in Alaska know that all too well now, after video of their halibut trip being interrupted by a killer whale has gone viral.

The video was posted on The Alaska Life Facebook page on Saturday. It shows a man talking with his friends as he halls in one of Alaska’s most popular fish. But as he’s reeling the specimen in, he seems to be talking with his friends about another finned animal swimming in the area. Sure enough, seconds later a killer whale surfaces and snatches the fish right off the hook.