Victim Sets Law On Luna

Saturday, November 6, 2004
GOLD RIVER, BC - A Gold River resident whose sailboat has repeatedly been attacked by Luna the killer whale asked his RCMP detachment this week to lay attempted murder charges against the orca and DFO.

The request was not taken seriously, said Keith Bell. "But, I told them that he's going to kill someone out there and then they're going to get orders to shoot him."

An interim agreement between the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation to monitor the five-year-old orca, which has been accused of damaging several boats, ended Oct. 31. Although both sides say the agreement could be renewed, talks have yet to take place.

Bell has had three run-ins with Luna in his eight-metre sailboat. The whale broke the rudder and tiller and knocked the engine off its mounting.

In desperation, Bell left the sailboat at Critter Cove last winter, but Luna found the boat.

This summer, Bell brought the boat back to a logging camp near Gold River, but Luna again decided to dismantle parts of it.

The final straw came last month, when Bell and a friend were in his small aluminum dinghy heading for his sailboat to install the repaired tiller.

Although they were moving across the inlet as fast as they could, Luna caught them, Bell said.

"He lifted the boat right out of the water. Then he veered to the side and lifted us up again. He was just playing around, but if he'd tipped us over, we'd have been in the water," he said.

"I've lived in Gold River for 30 years and I just enjoy getting out in my sailboat, but I haven't been able to sail much for two years because of that whale."

Mowachaht/Muchalaht Chief Mike Maquinna said band members have been taking an 8.5-metre boat into Nootka Sound every day to keep the whale away from sailing and fishing vessels. The program has been successful because the First Nations boat is one of Luna's favourites, Maquinna said.

Boating traffic is now dwindling, but the Mowachaht/Muchalaht plan to ask for an extension of the agreement, he said. However, the band has not yet received the $10,000 it was promised by DFO to monitor the whale and is relying on its own money and donations to keep the program running, Maquinna said.

"We had hoped things would be smoother than they have."

Don Radford, acting regional director for DFO, said the department is trying to schedule a meeting with Maquinna to discuss Luna's future. The funding has not yet come through because the process is complex and requires an amendment to the Nuu-chah-nulth aboriginal fisheries agreement, he said. "They will get the money and they know that."

The Mowachaht/Muchalaht believe the whale, which they call Tsu-xiit, embodies the spirit of their dead chief. They want the orca left in Nootka Sound, unless he chooses to join a passing pod.

"Our hope is still that nature should take its course," Maquinna said.

This summer, the band scuttled DFO plans to capture Luna and reunite him with his pod in Juan de Fuca Strait by luring him away from the net pen.

One of the donors to the stewardship program is OrcaLab, which monitors killer whales from its Hanson Island station.

OrcaLab director Paul Spong said he'd like to see the stewardship program increased to a full-time operation if Luna is still in Nootka Sound next summer.

"That would enable Luna to be safer. I hope DFO can find some additional resources," he said.

Although some are hoping another attempt many be made to lead Luna back to his pod this winter, Spong said the big mystery is where L Pod spends the winter months.

The whales are known to leave Juan de Fuca Strait, and have been spotted in locations as far apart as California and Langara Island, he said.

"The data is so spotty and there are so many ifs involved," he said.

For More Information: