Joining us as our guest this week is Monika Wieland Shields, co-founder and director of Orca Behavior Institute. In addition to talking with Monika about OBI's field research, we spoke about the two different ecotypes of killer whales we see in the waters around the San Juan Islands, the endangered fish-eating Southern Residents and the thriving marine mammal eating Bigg’s (formerly known as Transients). We discussed the changing trends in sightings of each population in the area and what is driving these changes. 

Monika also shared some information about OBI’s new study about killer whales and vessels in the Salish Sea, offering a new perspective on factors influencing incident rates. 

As we do on each episode we got into recent whale sightings around the San Juan Islands, including the fascinating, ongoing saga of young Bigg’s killer whale T34A1 switching families. 

Our next episode will drop on May 30th. If you would like to submit feedback or questions to us we might read a few submissions on the next episode. Email us at [email protected] or message us on Instagram.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Orca Behavior Institute

• Website

Photos mentioned in this episode:

Average days per month SRKWs and Bigg's killer whales are in the Salish Sea. Data compiled by the Orca Behavior Institute.

T34 matriline

T34A1 last sighting with family, August 22, 2021. Photo by Sara Hysong Shimazu, Maya's Legacy Whale Watching.

T34A1 with T36 and T36Bs, September 2021. Photo by Sara Hysong Shimazu, Maya's Legacy Whale Watching.

SRKW J41 as a calf 2005. Photo by Monika Wieland Shields.

SRKW J53 as a calf 2015. Photo by Jeff Friedman, Maya's Legacy Whale Watching.

New SRKW calf J59, 2022. Photo by Sara Hysong Shimazu, Maya's Legacy Whale Watching.

We kicked off our first episode with an introduction to your hosts, Jeff and Sara, and the origins of “After the Breach.” We caught up with early 2022 encounters, beginning with Sara’s amazing experience with Risso’s dolphins, which are very rare in the inland waters of the Salish Sea. We discussed recent encounters with Bigg’s killer whales, Southern Resident killer whales and humpbacks. We also described some of our all-time most memorable encounters and what we are looking forward to this season.

Our next episode will drop on May 13th and will include guest Monika Weiland Shields, founder and director of Orca Behavior Institute.

If you’d like to submit questions to hosts Jeff and Sara and/or our guest Monika for episode 2, you can email us at [email protected] or message us on Instagram.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Read more about Sara's amazing encounter with Risso's dolphins from her blog post.

Photos mentioned in this episode:

Risso's dolphins, rarely seen in the Salish Sea. Photo by Sara Shimazu, Maya's Legacy Whale Watching.

Sperm whale encounter from 2018. Photo by Jeff Friedman, Maya's Legacy Whale Watching.

Humpback whale "Valiant" with Bigg's killer whales. Photo by Ellie Sawyer, Maya's Legacy Whale Watching.

Bigg's killer whale T65B in 2019 throwing a Steller sealion pelt. Photo by Jeff Friedman, Maya's Legacy Whale Watching.