FEATURE
Rhapsody’s Bohemian By Gavin Hanke, Curator of Vertebrate Zoology
1
M
y first orca was an entertainer. As a child with British and Bohemian roots, I visited Marineland in Niagara Falls. I bet most people of my generation first met an orca in similar circumstances, watching as it swam captive in a pool. As a (childish) adult, I am in charge of 23 orca specimens— Southern Residents, Northern Residents, Offshores and Bigg’s ecotypes—from British Columbia, and these are available to researchers from around the world. Some of our orcas have names, like Miracle and Nitinat (T12A). Some were healthy; others had bone deformities (T171) or cancer (12844). In the winter of 2014, I heard that an orca had died off Courtenay. This was my introduction to Rhapsody (J32) and her unborn calf. A frenzy of phone calls and emails followed as the museum tried to decide whether we had funding to prepare a whale. The answer was yes. I wasn’t present at Rhapsody’s necropsy, but radio, newspaper and television reporters appeared as if from nowhere when they heard I was receiving the skeletons. I may as well have been a 10 ohm resistor between my electric car and a quick-charge station: 4
What’s inSight
resistance was futile. I became Rhapsody’s Bohemian. Emotions run high when people see Rhapsody’s skeleton. For 18 years, Rhapsody delighted whale watchers in the Salish Sea. But she was more than a target for telephoto lenses: she was a messenger. When her body was examined, her tissues were classified as toxic waste and dumped in a landfill. Rhapsody’s message concerns the state of our oceans, but she also reminds us, her fellow apex predators, of the axiom “you are what you eat”. Contaminants accumulate up the food chain, and the Southern Residents are primarily salmon eaters. Reliance on salmon means each orca accumulates contaminants as it ages. And as long as we pollute the environment, contaminants will accumulate. Pregnant (human) mothers are told not to eat shark, marlin, swordfish, king mackerel, tilefish, bigeye tuna or orange roughy, and to avoid sashimi and uncooked fish in sushi. But many food guides say seafood, including tuna and salmon, are fine two or three times a week. The same
goes for the diets of children, as mercury contamination will impact their growing bodies. Salmon are fairly high in the food chain, and studies show they accumulate cadmium, mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, flame retardants, and pesticides such as toxaphene, dieldrin, lindane, chlordane, hexachlorobenzene, pentachlorobenzene, endosulfan, mirex and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT). The amount they accumulate is entirely dependent on the salmon’s food source and geography. Salmon lingering near large cities have heavier contaminant loads. These compounds biodegrade slowly, accumulating in fat in animals higher up in the food chain. Increased concentrations increase the risk of reproductive and immune system impairment, as well as disease. None of this takes into account (continued on page 6) 1. Rhapsody on the beach awaiting necropsy, December 2014. Photograph courtesy of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). 2. Rhapsody (J32) swimming behind DoubleStuf (J34) off East Point, Saturna Island. Photograph courtesy of Miles Ritter.
The museum has preserved Rhapsody’s skeleton and the skeleton of her fetus. See both in the Orcas: Our Shared Future exhibition opening May 15, 2020.