Jonathan Kieran

A rather intriguing article from the San Francisco Chronicle can be found HERE, describing the recent hunting expeditions of various killer whale families and subsets in the deep canyons of the Monterey Bay and—of particular interest—West of the notorious Farallon Islands near San Francisco.

As a longtime resident of the Monterey Bay area, killer whales are famous for hunting along our vast and somewhat ominous underwater canyons in late Spring, when gray whales are migrating northward with their calves and sea lions are “pupping.” The route that the gray whales must take to avoid being mercilessly attacked by the efficient and concerted efforts of orca pods is a perilous path. There’s a portion of the greater Monterey Bay canyon wherein the mothers and calves must make a quick diagonal dash away from the coastal-hugging kelp beds that provide them with a fair amount of discretion.

That diagonal dash is a “do or die” trajectory because the orcas know their fellow cetaceans must often take the short-cut and they are waiting there, teeth at the ready, to head them off, batter the vulnerable calves, separate them from their mothers, rip their fins apart, drown them, and eat their flesh like veal steaks of the sea.

Ah, the circle—and reality—of God’s merciful, joyous world: butcher the helpless first!

Whales and calves can also be caught near the spooky Farallons, but killer whales have been seen near the archipelago this past month hunting amid the ample colonies of sea lions and their pups. Orcas have a special method of rounding-up those poor whippersnappers, too. Pretty ruthless and gruesome tactics are employed, but as a team effort, it’s as easy as shoplifting at a San Francisco Walgreens!

I am more interested in killer whale presence near the Farallons due to the implications their patrols will mean for the local Great White Shark population. Typically, the treacherous seas around these islands are more suited to exceedingly large Great White Sharks looking to ambush seals and sea lions heading out to catch their own lunches, but orcas and Great Whites do not share territory. Killer whales do not always frequent those waters, like the sharks, but when their first songs and cries are heard echoing in the deep off the Farallons, the Great Whites dive and get out of Dodge, as they say.

Even a 24-25 ft. Great White Shark (and they do get that big out near the Farallons) does not want to tangle with an entire team of hungry orcas. One-on-one, the story might be different, but millions of years of evolutionary experience have afforded big White Sharks with the sense to use their natural advantage in such cases, i.e. they don’t need to ever come up for air, unlike the whales, and can plunge swiftly and permanently to avoid unnecessary encounters.

Sometimes, if killer whales make a real stir in the waters off the Farallons, Great White Sharks might not return for two seasons, just to be on the safe side. This phenomenon has been well-documented by researchers in the past.

Luckily, there are still plenty of fish—and spritely mammals—in the sea. Enough to go around for both predators, apparently. Read the article at the link above; it’s informative and has some tantalizing photos of orcas doing what they do best.

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