Governor’s SRKW Task Force Meeting in Anacortes on Tuesday, August 28, 9 a.m to 3 p.m. at Swinomish Casino, Anacortes
— by Margie Doyle, updated Aug. 27 at 9 p.m.–
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On a blustery Sunday afternoon, a gathering at Waterfront Park mourned in solidarity with the grieving Southern Resident Killer Whale Tahlequah, who carried her dead calf for 17 days this month.
Organizer Gretchen Krampf, singers Sharon Abreu and Mike Hurwicz, and Friends of the San Juans Board vice-president Janet Alderton joined others at the “Wake,” as Krampf described the gathering, who waited for Samish Nation Elders Rosie Cayou and Bill James to arrive from the ferry. Then the group observed 17 minutes of silence, marked by the ringing of a bell each minute, to represent the 17 days Tahlequah carried her calf.
Abreu and Hurwicz led the group in the song, ‘What Would Granny Say?’ referring to the experience of the legendary Orcas named Granny, “the matriarch of J pod, the beloved Orcas Tribe.”
Under the guidance of Samish Elder Rosie Cayou, people gathered kelp and seaweed to place on a symbolic cedar plank and then carry it out to sea to “feed” the Orcas in a canoe donated by Eric Morris. Abreu and Hurwicz closed the ceremony with their version of the song, “Sweet Survivor” written by Pete Yarrow of Peter Paul and Mary, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil :
When we all had to care or all was lost
But now you see believers turn to cynics
And you wonder was the struggle worth the cost
Then you see someone too young to know the difference
And a veil of isolation in their eyes
And inside you know you’ve got to leave them something
Or the hope for something better slowly dies.
Don’t give up on the dream, and don’t you let it end.
Carry on my sweet survivor, you’ve carried it so long
So it may come again, carry on”
— from the Friends of the San Juans’ website:
“The Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW) are critically endangered. In 2005, our SRKWs numbered 88 when they were listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. Today, they are down to just 75 whales — the lowest number in 30 years. They need all of our help, and they need it now!
“It was a summer of sadness watching Scarlet’s (J50) health decline and Tahlequah (J35) hold her dead calf above water for 17 painful days. No new SRKW calves have survived since 2015. Our region has reached a crossroads with two signature species — SRKWs and Chinook salmon.
“The San Juan Islands play a critical role for SRKWs who eat Chinook salmon. Salmon need forage fish and our natural beaches are critical spawning ground for forage fish like surf smelt and sand lance, and nearshore eelgrass meadows are nurseries where herring spawn.
https://sanjuans.org/action-center/
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A beautifully poignant afternoon together. Deep bow of appreciation to Rosie Cayou and Bill James, and to Sharin, Mike, Janet, Eric and all who gathered and mourned our whales’ loss.