In Homage to the Whales

Being nearly 70 I'm not of the generation that “does” instant messaging, texts, whatsapp, instagram – I can just about manage a facebook page occasionally and twitter always gets the better of me.. Which is why I have taken nearly a week to write about this, which is very dear to my heart. I need time to think about things, a plodder who doesn't react instantly! Well, that's my excuse for writing this a week after the event.

There was, thankfully, a huge public reaction to last week's episode of “The Blue Planet” where a pilot whale mother was filmed refusing to let go of her dead baby. The reason for the death was most probably a high level of PCB's in the mother's milk, which effectively poisoned the calf. This in itself is more than sad, but I also recently learned of something that has affected me personally.

Britannia in 1992 in the Sound of Sleat, between Skye and the mainland

Between 1982 and 1996 we sailed Britannia on the West Coast of Scotland, taking passengers every week to enjoy the beautiful scenery and abundant wildlife. Every year we made several sightings of a large pod of Orcas, more than 40 creatures, and I now learn that they were known as the West Coast Community Orca pod. They are the UK's only resident pod of Orcas. I didn't know that then. When we saw these magnificent creatures, we were full of wonder and awe and felt hugely privileged to be able to view them so closely, hear them blowing and, yes, smell them!

Apparantly at the beginning of 2016 a female orca was washed up on the shore of Tiree, a small Hebridean island. She was identified as a member of the now dwindling West Coast Community Orca pod. Her death must have been excruciating as she had been entangled in fishing rope, which had prevented her from swimming, ultimately causing her to suffocate. The West Coast pod now has just 8 individuals, 4 males and 4 females with no calves having been observed for 20 years!! If that isn't bad enough, on examining the female's body, - she had been named Lulu, - it was discovered that:

"The levels of PCB contamination in Lulu were incredibly high, surprisingly so. They were 20 times higher than the safe level that we would expect for cetaceans to be able to manage. That puts her as one of the most contaminated animals on the planet in terms of PCB burden, and does raise serious questions for the long-term survivability of this group (of UK killer whales)."

Dr Andrew Brownlow, head of the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme.

It is not just plastics that can be seen in the ocean, making hideous and lethal plastic islands. The ocean is downstream from everything, and much more still needs to be done to ensure that PCBs currently in landfill sites are locked-in and secured so they can’t leak out into streams, rivers and estuaries.

The chances of survival for the remaining members of this pod of orcas is slim, and if they are unable to breed or keep their calves alive, they will soon become extinct. This is heartbreaking and a tragedy that need not be happening. We do not need plastic! We must stop producing anything that cannot be disposed of safely and without harming the environment. We must all work together to stop polluting our seas and our beautiful planet before it is too late, as it is for this iconic West Coast Community of Orcas.

When Britannia is sailing again, she will be a flagship for raising awareness of the state of our oceans, and for us, Board members of Britannia Sailing Trust, the tragic tale of the West  Coast Orcas makes us even more determined to get our historic boat back to sea and working, to try to make a small difference.