By Susan Berta | Program Coordinator
In January, Orca Network held our annual Ways of Whales workshop, with a focus on Southern Resident orcas and their need for salmon, with presentations and a panel discussion by orca and salmon experts. The workshop was our best yet, with over 300 people in attendance, and receiving rave reviews. Due to the serious issue of declining salmon runs, an important food source for our endangered and declining population of Southern Resident orcas, we are now working on a 2nd Orca-Salmon workshop in partnership with the Salish Sea Association of Marine Naturalists, and the Puget Sound Partnership. This workshop will take place in Seattle at the Convention Center, the day before the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference. We are excited to be working with such great partners on this very important issue for the Southern Resident orcas.
And just as Orca Network's Whale Sighting Network gets ready for our N. Puget Sound Gray Whale season to begin, we have an exciting new project ready to launch ~
On Saturday March 1st, Orca Network will open the doors to our new Langley Whale Center, in Langley on beautiful Whidbey Island! Langley is a great place to see Gray whales in the spring, as they come in to feed on the ghost shrimp in the nearshore area. Our local group of about 10 - 12 gray whales visits Whidbey Island from March through May or June each year, so the opening of our Whale Center will be just in time to welcome the return of the whales. Orca Network also will be celebrating the return of the whales in Langley on April 19th, with our annual Welcome the Whales Parade and Festival.
Orca Network's new Whale Center is supported by Langley Main Street Association and the City of Langley, and we have been hard at work on preparing the exhibits and displays, which will include information about the local Gray whales, the Southern Resident orcas, Transient orcas, and other cetaceans and marine mammals of the Salish Sea.
A Blue whale jawbone has been loaned to us by Monte Hughes of Mystic Sea Charters, and will be used to make an archway over the entrance to the Whale Center. We will display bones, baleen, barnacles, and whale lice from Gray whales that have stranded on Whidbey Island, as well as skulls from seals and sea lions and other marine mammal specimens our Central Puget Sound Marine Mammal Stranding Network has collected over the years.
The Center includes a DVD player to play educational videos about the whales of our area, a Lending Library of whale books and videos for visitors to check out, and educational materials, as well as a small gift shop to sell whale books, DVDs, and other whale-related items.
Our Orca Network board and volunteers have been busy preparing to open our doors March 1st, and we will be planning a Grand Opening in the late spring or early summer, once we have everything in place.
The Langley Whale Center is an exciting opportunity, and the first time Orca Network will have a space open to the public to better share information about our whales, and we expect our outreach to be greatly multiplied by this endeavor. The Center is located at 117 Anthes, in Langley on Whidbey Island, and is only a block away from the waterfront and "Whale Bell Park" where the big Whale Bell is rung whenever whales are spotted in the area.
If you are on Whidbey Island, come visit our new Langley Whale Center, and stop in to say hello! And if you're lucky, maybe you'll get to watch some whales from the shores of Whidbey Island with us ~
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