Boating season renews concerns about Luna

Judith Lavoie
Times Colonist

April 6, 2005

Like all five-year-olds, Luna the solitary orca is growing fast.

A winter of hunting for chinook salmon and other fish has left him sleek, healthy and spending most of his time in Mooyah Bay, at a safe distance from boats and humans.

But, with the Nootka Sound boating season starting in May, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the Mowachaht/ Muchalaht First Nation and Gold River residents are facing the same problem as last year.

How do you stop a boisterous, over-friendly orca from interacting with humans and toying with boats and float planes?

Last summer, a DFO plan to capture Luna and reunite him with his pod failed after the Mowachaht/Muchalaht lured him away from the net pen with canoes.

The First Nation believes the young whale -- who turned up alone in Nootka Sound almost four years ago -- embodies the spirit of their dead chief Ambrose Maquinna and band members fiercely opposed the DFO plan to truck Luna to Victoria in hopes of reuniting him with L Pod.

After the relocation plan self-destructed, DFO set up a $10,000 stewardship program with the Mowachaht/Muchalaht, in an effort to keep Luna away from boats.

The education and monitoring program had mixed success, but is under review, with an eye to renewing it.

"What we have been doing is a review of the stewardship program to find out where the successes are and where there are gaps," said Marilyn Joyce, DFO marine mammal co-ordinator.

The first goal is public safety and Luna's safety is a close second, which is why all options are being considered, Joyce said. "No decision has been made. The department is trying to find a solution to meet everyone's expectations," she said. "Stewardship is one of the options, but we haven't had a chance to have a sit-down discussion with the First Nations to see if their perspectives have changed."

Mowachaht/Muchalaht Chief Michael Maquinna said a renewed stewardship program is under negotiation, but he is not sure how much the program will cost.

However, Ha-Shilth-Sa, a First Nations newspaper, is reporting the Mowachaht/Muchalaht want $176,000 for a full program of education and patrols.

It is possible there will be fewer conflicts this boating season, Maquinna said.

"I hope people are more educated and have a better understanding of not approaching the whale," he said.

It is the whale's choice whether to go or stay, Maquinna added.

A memorial potlatch for Ambrose Maquinna will be held this November and some believe Luna will leave Nootka Sound after that.

Those hoping for a natural reunion between Luna and L Pod were buoyed in February by a brief communication between Luna and some northern orca residents, who speak a different language.

The sounds were recorded by Lisa Larsson, a whale researcher who works with OrcaLab.

"It was a great moment," said Helena Symonds of OrcaLab.

Usually, southern and northern residents do not communicate and it is not known why Luna responded.

"It gives hope that resident whales do go into Nootka Sound. It means a natural reunion is not a dead issue -- that would be a very elegant conclusion," Symonds said.

Another boost to hopes of Luna reuniting with his pod is the example of Springer, the young whale who was relocated from near Seattle to rejoin her pod in Johnstone Strait three years ago.

Springer has already been spotted this season, Symonds said. "She was swimming next to her cousin and her great auntie was not far away," she said.

"She looks really good."