Story Published:
Oct 8, 2003 at 11:15 PM PDT
Story Updated:
Aug 31, 2006 at 1:11 AM PDT
SEATTLE - As U.S. and Canadian officials and environmentalists met Wednesday night at the Seattle Aquarium they watched a short video of Luna the orca set to music. Marc Pakenham of the Luna Stewardship Project joked he hopes the next video is set to "I'll be Home for Christmas."
After two years of wrangling between U.S. and Canadian groups government agencies finally laid out the plan to move L-98 from Nootka Sound to Pedder Bay near Sooke, B.C. on the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Marilyn Joyce of the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans explained Canada's proposal Wednesday night in Seattle to a group of about 100 people involved in the effort to reunite Luna with the L-pod.
"I hope we don't see these young whales leaving their pods anymore because it distresses us all," said Joyce. "But I think we just have to take one step at a time."
Orca watchdog groups have been distressed for months because those steps have come more slowly than they would prefer. The L-pod could leave its home range of the San Juan and Gulf Islands in mid-winter and head to the open ocean. The goal is to get Luna within vocal range of his pod, and his birth mother L67, before that happens.
"We all care for Luna. That's why we're here," said Howard Garrett of Orca Network. "We want the best for that little guy."
The best, the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans has decided, is a plan almost identical to the rescue effort for Springer, A-73, last year.
Luna will be captured preferably by being lured into a net pen. He will be held there for a week of medical tests to screen him for any potentially transmittable diseases, then taken either by boat, truck, or a combination of the two to a holding pen in Pedder Bay. Then, as with Springer, when he has made a vocal connection to his native pod he will be allowed to swim free.
Recent sightings of Springer prove to government scientists and orca activists that it worked then and can work again.
"That was a success story. There's no reason this shouldn't be a success story at the same time," said Marc Parkenham of the Luna Stewardship Project.
What isn't determined yet is the time frame.
The Canadian Department of Fisheries is allowing one more week for individuals and organizations to apply to be a part of the move. They are accepting scientific license applications from groups "that can demonstrate the financial capacity and expertise" to reunite the four-year-old whale with his U.S.-based pod.
They are also looking for donations to cover the estimed $250,000 cost of the move.
For More Information:
Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada
NOAA Fisheries
Luna Stewardship Project
Orca Network
Seattle Aquarium
People for Puget Sound
Orca Conservancy
Reunite Luna
