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Chapter 1 takes place in Dyes Inlet where Marisa and her friend Lena are fishing for salmon. Both girls spot a pod of orcas in the inlet, which is an extremely rare sight in that area. The chapter ends with Maris spoting an orca with an interesting marking above its eye and seems to immediately recognize the whale.

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Once Marisa and Lena get their rowboat out of the inlet, they notice a large crowd starting to observe the pod of Orcas. In this chapter, it is revealed  Marisa's mother left, but no reason is given for why.

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In Chapter 4, we are introduced to Marisa's science teacher, Mr. O'Connor. He is discussing orca's classification as well as why the orcas are in the inlet. He also offers an extra credit opportunity for students who want to work with the research scientists who are studying the pod.

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This chapter is where we are first introduced to Marisa's father. He invites her to skip school and help him in the Inlet at the Mud Bay Kayak and Rowing Center since the pod has drawn a lot of attention to Dyes Inlet. Marisa decides go to school, but still visits her father at the Inlet. Before she visits him, she visits their PO box and sees a letter postmarked from Pasadena, California. Marisa gets rid of the letter after realizing it is probably from her mother.

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This chapter begins with Marisa in the lunchroom, learning her friend Lena signed her up to work with the research crew for extra credit, which Marisa is not so happy about. In this chapter we learn a little bit more about how Marisa's mother and father met and  that Marisa's mother would take her to watch orcas along the beach. In fact, four years previous, they spot an orca calf, which they find out from the Whale Museum has not been spotted before. Maris gets to name the calf they spot and chooses to call him Muncher. Maris realizes from watching the news, Muncher is one of the nineteen whales in Dyes Inlet.

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Orca calves start out as black and orange, rather than black and white. Over time, the orange color will fade to white (p. 36).

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Orcas are considered in the Class Mammalia, Order Cetacae, Suborder Odontoceti, and family Delphinidae (p. 27).

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Disclaimer: The Animal Diversity Web is an educational resource written largely by and for college students. ADW doesn't cover all species in the world, nor does it include all the latest scientific information about organisms we describe. Though we edit our accounts for accuracy, we cannot guarantee all information in those accounts.

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Marisa goes to her first day of volunteering with Lena, where she first meets the research crew, Sound Keeper. The director, Kevin, goes over what they will be doing, and Marisa is surprised to find out it is not just grunt work.   Marisa soon realizes Harris and Jesse will be on the boat with her, and becomes concerned Jesse, Harris's little brother, won't be able to handle the boat ride. Harris and Marisa have an altercation after Marisa mentions Jesse not being able to handle being on the boat with the research crew. Marisa ends up not going out on the boat with them after this altercation.

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Lena tries to talk to Marisa about what is wrong, and asks about Marisa's mother. Maris decides to leave, but run's into her father boss Tal. She meets Tal's dog Mut and offers to walk Mut sometimes. Marisa also has a run-in with Grace, who tries to charge Marisa for walking across her families beach. This is where Marisa realizes the whales maybe becoming a novelty for everyone.

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Chapter 8 starts with Marisa breaking down in front of her father about her mother, talking about how much she misses her. Her father reveals he knows very little about Marisa's mother's past. Later in the chapter, Maris goes to Lyons Field to volunteer, apologizing to Lena for running off. She gets on a boat called the Wave where she gets to observe some of the orca communications and behaviors.

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Maris continues to volunteer for the SoundKeeper program. She also starts to look for letters from her mother at the post-office.
Later in the chapter, the whales start to make an attempt to leave the inlet, but boats start surrounding them, causing the whales to retreat. Marisa is sent to get the police to stop the boats from moving in. The police attempt to stop the boats, but a speed boat gets in the pods way. The orcas stop their attempts and end up turning back into the inlet.

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After the failed attempt of the orcas to leave the inlet, Marisa makes it her mission to help them to get home. The SoundKeeper program makes a plan to help the whales get home, after witnessing them trying to leave and getting hindered by the public.

Later in the chapter, Tal and Marisa find Harris and Jesse in a canoe that has capsized. They're both suffering from hypothermia by the time Tal and Marisa find them.

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Orcas communicate through a series of clicks, pops, squeals, and whistles (p. 61 ).

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Alaska Killer Whales (Orcas) Talking & Communicating

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Orcas can be identified by their dorsal fin. They each have a unique shape and saddle patch markings which are almost like fingerprints in identifying them (p. 63).

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A 103-year-old orca whale named "Granny" has been making some serious waves this week, after she was spotted traveling for 800 miles off the coast of Canada with her pod. The centenarian, also called J2 by researchers, has not only astounded people with her age, but by disproving SeaWorld claims that orcas typically live up to 25-35 years in the wild.

So how do researchers know that this particular whale is Granny? Well, it turns out that like humans (and all other animals), each orca has distinguishable physical characteristics. The most important identifier that researchers use is a whale's dorsal fin. Each whale has a unique dorsal fin identified by its slight variations -- shape, width, height and whether or not it curves to the left or right.

Whales can also be identified by a "saddle patch," whitish-grey patch of pigmentation on their back, just behind the dorsal fin. Each one is different, like a human fingerprint.

"J2 or "Granny" is identified by both her saddle patch and her dorsal fin," said Erin Heydenreich, a field biologist with the Center for Whale Research. "J2 has a distinctive nick right in the middle of her dorsal fin which makes her hard to miss."

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"Whale Fingerprints": How We Know Granny The Orca Is 103 Years Old

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A 103-year-old orca whale named "Granny" has been making some serious waves this week, after she was spotted traveling for 800 miles off the coast of Canada with her pod. The centenarian, also called J2 by researchers, has not only astounded people with her age, but by disproving SeaWorld claims that orcas typically live up to 25-35 years in the wild.

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The chapter starts with Harris and Marisa still observing the whales to see if they will swim back out of the inlet, but eventually they give up observing them when the orcas stay in the inlet.

Bette  reveals a little bit to Marisa and Harris about her own daughter who ran away years previously. Bette also reveals to Marisa she knew about her mother leaving.

Later in the chapter, Marisa has a dream the orcas are in trouble only to wake-up to her father needing her help to rent out boats at the inlet. When Marisa and her father leave to check on the whales after all the boats are rented out, they run into the SoundKeeper group to find out the orcas are in a defensive position in the inlet due to all of the boats within the inlet.

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The chapter begins with talks of an emergency meeting at the Sons of Norway Community Lodge in order to discuss what to do about all of the boats in the inlet, causing a threat to the orcas.

Marisa and Harris observe the Suquamish, a local tribe, perform a ceremony to help the orcas return home safely.

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Marisa travels to the post office, expecting a letter from her mother. Instead, Marisa finds a letter addressed to her mother. Marisa, after much debate, opens the letter to discover it's from her mother's son, who she gave up for adoption years before.

Marisa and her father travel to the emergency meeting at the Sons of Norway Lodge. Kevin, from SoundKeeper discusses the issues with all of the boats harassing the ocras within the inlet. After the meeting, Marisa gets dinner with her father, Grace, Naomi, Kevin, Tal, Bette, Harris, and Jesse. Marisa learns about Penn Cove, where over 80 whales were captured and then sent off to aquariums around the world.

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The chapter begins with Marisa, Harris, and Lena trying to think of ideas to get the orcas out of the inlet to present to Kevin and Naomi.

Maris decides to go into the inlet by herself when it is surrounded by thick fog, which she knows could be very dangerous.  Two whales, a mother and calf, breach in front of Marisa. The calf ends up being Muncher and Marisa follows them around the inlet for a while, observing their behavior and communication. The chapter ends with Marisa realizing why the whales are staying in the inlet.

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Marisa immediately leaves the inlet once she realizes why the orcas are won't leave and races to find Kevin. She realizes the reason the orcas won't leave the inlet is due to the traffic and noise across the Warren Avenue Bridge. Initially, Kevin is hesitant to believe Marisa, but once Naomi and him realize Marisa is correct, the question of how and if they can close the bridge is brought up. Kevin is very against this idea, as they've had so much trouble even controlling boat traffic in the inlet.

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Harris and Jesse are taken to the hospital after their accident in the water. They end up being alright and Marisa talks with Harris about why he went out in the canoe. He claims he just wanted to see the whales up close. Marisa talks to her father about the incident, as it was one of his boats, and asks her father if she can invite Harris and Jesse to the parade the next day.

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Marisa finds out Jesse and Harris are sent home with Tal and his wife Bette. She also receives a phone call from her mother and tries to convince her to come home, but her mothers says she has to meet someone before she can do that.

Later in the chapter, Marisa, her dad, Jesse, and Harris head to the parade. Marisa starts to learn more about her mother and her interactions with Harris and Jesse.

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Marisa's father offers to take a film crew from the Today Show to see the whales. Naomi, one of the SoundKeeper researchers, lets Marisa listen to the orca communication and explains some of their behavior.

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The chapter starts with Kevin, one of the SoundKeeper researchers, telling Marisa and Harris commercial fishing in the inlet has been restricted while the Orcas are still there. Kevin has them sort photos based identifying the whales by the dorsal fin and gives Marisa and Harris more information about identifying them this way.

Maris takes Harris and Jesse out to see the whales and they catch a glimpse of them communicating in the inlet.

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Marisa and her father's house boat is shaken from the wakes of the large boats coming into the inlet. She is set to post "No Wake" signs and is surprised when Grace offers to hang some of the flyers up for her.

Marisa ends up staying over Tal and Bette's house that same night. The next morning, at Tal and Bette's while observing the orcas, Harris and Marisa see the whales leave the inlet, but then come back in.

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The Marine Mammal Protection Act  protects all marine mammals from being hunted or collected (p. 105).

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The Marine Mammal Protection Act still plays a critical role in the survival of marine mammals and the health of our ocean ecosystem. Our ocean is in trouble and marine mammals are facing new threats ranging from warming ocean temperatures to ocean trash and plastic pollution to depletion of fish stocks - just to name a few. The Marine Mammal Protection Act helps protect our most vulnerable creatures and The Marine Mammal Center will continue our work to ensure their survival.

The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) was passed October 21, 1972, to maintain the health and stability of the marine ecosystem. Marine mammals were in danger of diminishing, some to the point of extinction, as a result of human activities like hunting and fishing. The MMPA protects all marine mammals, including cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises), pinnipeds (seals and sea lions), sirenians (manatees and dugongs), sea otters and polar bears within the waters of the United States.

The MMPA makes it illegal to "take" marine mammals without a permit. This means people may not harass, feed, hunt, capture or kill any marine mammal. It also established the Marine Mammal Commission and formalized the marine mammal health and stranding response program to improve responses to strandings and unusual mortality events.

The MMPA was amended in 1994 to require the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to use science-based research to assess marine mammal populations. These reports help estimate deaths due to human activity, recover depleted populations and increase our understanding of marine mammal biology and ecology. Read the complete text from NOAA.

The MMPA is managed by the federal government. The National Marine Fisheries Service, part of NOAA within the Department of Commerce, is responsible for managing cetaceans, otariids (eared seals, or sea lions) and phocids (true seals). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, part of the Department of the Interior, is responsible for managing odobenids (walruses), sirenians, sea otters and polar bears. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, part of the Department of Agriculture, is responsible for regulations managing the facilities that house marine mammals in captivity.

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The Marine Mammal Protection Act still plays a critical role in the survival of marine mammals and the health of our ocean ecosystem. Our ocean is in trouble and marine mammals are facing new threats ranging from warming ocean temperatures to ocean trash and plastic pollution to depletion of fish stocks - just to name a few.

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Orcas do something called lobtailing which is a way for them to ward off predators (p. 101).

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Years ago, it was legal to capture whales with permits. People would finance large captures of whales in order to send them away to aquariums around the world (p. 150).

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Offshores have the largest geographic range of any killer whale community in the northeastern Pacific and often occur 9 miles (15 km) or more offshore. But, they also visit coastal waters and occasionally enter protected inshore waters. Animals typically congregate in groups of 20-75 animals with occasional sightings of larger groups up to 200 whales.

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In Alaska, a group of researchers tried to get a pod of orcas to move by using opera music, which sounded similar to their calls, but the whales could differentiate the sounds and wouldn't move (p. 155).

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Noise emanating from passing ships may disturb animals such as killer whales and dolphins far more than previously thought, with new research showing that the animals' communication and ability to find prey could be hampered by the underwater din.

The low rumble of passing ships has long been connected to the disturbance of large whales. But US researchers have documented persistent noise also occurring at medium and higher frequencies, including at 20,000Hz where killer whales, also known as orcas, hear best.

These noise disturbances could be hindering the ability of killer whales to communicate and echolocate - the process of using sound to bounce off objects such as prey and identify where they are. Dolphins and porpoises, which also operate at higher frequencies, may be suffering the same problems.

The findings, published in PeerJ, suggest that the noise could well affect the endangered population of killer whales that are found near the shipping lanes. A population of just 84 killer whales forage up the US west coast and into Puget Sound.

"The main concern of this is that even a slight increase in sound may make echolocation more difficult for whales," said Scott Veirs of Beamreach, who led the research. "That's worrying because their prey, chinook salmon, is already quite scarce. Hearing a click off a salmon is probably one of the most challenging things a killer whale does. Hearing that subtle click is harder if there's a lot of noise around you."

The researchers used underwater microphones to measure the noise created by about 1,600 individual ships as they passed through Haro Strait, in Washington state. The two-year study captured the sound made by 12 different types of vessel, including cruise ships, container ships and military vehicles, that passed through the strait about 20 times a day.

Some ships are quieter than others but the average intensity of noise next to all the ships was 173 underwater decibels, equivalent to 111 decibels through the air - about the sound of a loud rock concert. Whales are not usually located right next to ships and so would be subjected to noise of about 60 to 90 decibels - around the level of a lawnmower or a vacuum cleaner.

Veirs said scientists have already identified the impact of underwater noise upon baleen whales - a class of fauna containing the largest animals on Earth. But the new research underlines the threat posed to smaller whales, dolphins and porpoises.

"Ships have been thought of as low-frequency sources of noise, like the rumbling of trucks or trains," he said. "Most noise is at that low frequency but the background noise of the ocean is raised even in the high frequencies. This could be causing a significant problem that we need to look into more."

There are several knock-on consequences of a noisy marine environment. Whales may have to group together more closely in order to hear each other. And should they fail to find prey as effectively, they will need to use up their stores of excess blubber. This is problematic as this blubber often contains manmade pollutants that are toxic to whales if released fully into their systems.

Veirs said more work needs to be done to identify how badly the noise is affecting whales and also to quieten the ships that pass near the cetaceans.

"It should be easy to reduce noise pollution," he said. "Military ships are quite a bit quieter and there could be straightforward ways of transferring that technology to the commercial fleet. Another way to reduce noise is to slow down. Decreasing speed by six knots could decrease noise intensity by half."

While the fortunes of some whale species, such as humpbacks and blue whales, have improved as whaling has declined, others are still under threat from a range of factors. Last week, the US federal government protected nearly 40,000 square miles of the Atlantic in an attempt to avoid losing the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, a species with just 500 individuals left.

In Europe, killer whales are carrying dangerously high levels of banned PCB chemicals in their blubber. Scientists are still trying to determine whether pollutants caused the death of five sperm whales that became stranded on the east coast of Britain in January.

Meanwhile, around the coast of Australia, whales face an increased threat from ship strikes and oil and gas drilling, as well as Japan's recent pledge to resume whaling in Antarctic waters.
Topics

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Ships' noise is serious problem for killer whales and dolphins, report finds

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Noise emanating from passing ships may disturb animals such as killer whales and dolphins far more than previously thought, with new research showing that the animals' communication and ability to find prey could be hampered by the underwater din. The low rumble of passing ships has long been connected to the disturbance of large whales.

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Marisa decides to skip school at the beginning of the chapter, in order to think about what to do to help the whales. While Marisa is trying to figure out a plan of action, Tal visits her, asking if she would speak at the council meeting, as he sees her as a key part of figuring out how to help the whales.

Later in the chapter, Marisa rallies all of her friends in order to share an idea of how to get the whales out of the inlet.

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Marisa prepares to execute the plan, first checking with her father she can go to Grace's house. Before Marisa departs, she talks about her mother with her father.

Once Marisa arrives at Grace's, they start making copies of a flier explaining why the orcas are in danger.

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Marisa prepares to speak at the council meeting, but before she goes to present, she talks with Tal about his daughter and Tal tells Marisa to have courage and not blame herself for what happened. He gives Marisa the charm bracelet, saying it is from Better who sees the same courage in Marisa she saw in Marisa's mother.

Marisa speak to the crown, very fearful at first, but then gains the confidence to tell them how the whales are in danger. She ends with asking the council to close the Warren Avenue bridge so the whales can leave the inlet.

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Everyone has to wait Sunday and Monday to hear the council's decision, but they vote to close the bridge for a 24 hour period and set-up no-wake zones.

Towards to end of the chapter, Marisa and her father read the letter from her mother's son. They find out his name is Ben and he is just trying to reach out to his biological mother.

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The chapter opens with the day the bridge is planned to be closed. Marisa works closely with SoundKeeper to make a plan to coax the whale out of the inlet. After much debate, they decide to use recorded whale noises to get them to leave the inlet. Finally, the whales start to leave the inlet, diving down and then appearing on the other side of the bridge. Muncher and his mother, though, try to go through the bridge, but end up back in the inlet.

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The chapter begins with Marisa jumping into the boat of one of the drummers, so they can paddle over to Marina and Muncher to help them leave the inlet. Through a lot of drumming with their paddles, Marisa and the drummer manage to help get Muncher and his mother safely out of the inlet.

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The chapter begins with celebrations of the whales making it out of the inlet, where Kevin and Naomi visit Marisa, Grace, Harris, and Lena at school to thank them. Later in the chapter Marisa get a stack of letters from her mother, as well as a slip of paper with her number on it. In the letters, Marisa's mother tells her about Ben, her half brother, and why she left. The book ends with Marisa contacting her mother to tell her about the whales in the inlet.

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Porpoising is when whales move quickly through the water, arching up to the surface and then back down into the water (p. 202-203).

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High Speed Porpoising Killer Whales, Victoria BC Video Credit: Olivia Galati

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The salmon run is critical for orcas to survive. Salmon migrate to oceans to live their adult lives, where orcas will feed on them (p. 205-206).

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Save Our Wild Salmon - Protecting Orca by Restoring Salmon Project - Projects

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Protecting and restoring these critical populations depends on substantially improving the health of this ecosystem. A modernized Columbia River Treaty that includes a new third purpose - ecosystem-based function - and a legally valid, science-based Federal Salmon Plan (BiOp) that includes the removal of the lower Snake River dams, expanded spill at dams that remain, and other key measures are essential to the fate and future of the Southern Resident Orcas.