Orca Is State Symbol Thanks To Area Students

Friday, April 15, 2005
OLYMPIA, WA - What started as a school project in Oak Harbor grew to leviathan proportion this week when Gov. Christine Gregoire signed a bill making the orca Washington's official marine mammal.

The signing ceremony capped a two-year project for a group of students at Crescent Harbor Elementary School in Oak Harbor.

Recognizing that Washington lacked its own marine mammal, the students studied whales and collected 1,000 signatures in support of the first orca bill. The bill went through two legislative sessions before it finally passed this year.

In a prepared statement, second-grade teacher Bonnie Alanis said she was proud of her students for putting their hearts into "a lesson that will touch their memories for a lifetime."

Bill sponsor Rep. Sherry Appleton, D-Poulsbo, said she was impressed with the thoroughness of the students' efforts. She said passing the bill is something that will stay with the young students for a long time.

"Hopefully, these students will be able to tell their children and grandchildren how they helped make orca the state marine mammal," Appleton said in a news release.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife has recently counted as many as 88 orcas in the Puget Sound. Whale watching and other whale-related businesses bring in $51 million to the state economy every year, according to a news release.

For those who regularly patrol the San Juan Islands for the unmistakable black and white animals, the new status for the whales is more than just a school project.

Shane Aggergaard, owner of Island Adventures in Anacortes, said people have a special connection to the whales that roam the waters around the San Juan Islands.

"The whales have a way of touching people," Aggergaard said.

The effort to connect people with whales took a big step in the 1980s, when orcas in the three pods that frequent Puget Sound were given names. Now, whale-watchers can catch a glimpse of Ruffles, a 52-year-old orca with a wavy dorsal fin that looks like a potato chip. Aggergaard called Ruffles the "rock star" of his pod.

Kari Koski of the Whale Museum in Friday Harbor said visitors now relate to orcas on a personal level.

"They love even seeing or hearing their breath," Koski said. "That seems really captivating."

Source: The Skagit Valley Herald