Back in the early 60's (man, I'm getting old!) aboard a table seiner in Blackfish Sound on the BC coast, we had our boat and net attacked a number of times by killer whales that the indigenous natives called blackfish. This area, close to Alert Bay, was their hunting ground and didn't take them long to figure out when a seine boat was 'buttoning up', that means when you have hauled most of the net aboard but still had the 'bunt' along side filled with salmon, if they charged the net hard enough, they could burst through and have a feast. Even placing a
power skiff outside of the net was not a deterrent. We tried to scare them off by using plungers, similar to a bathroom plunger but made from
aluminum on a long pole that made a thumping sound to corral salmon into the net. Killer whales are unbelievably strong, intelligent and persistent when they are feeding. We
lost a lot of
fish and spent hours resewing our nets after these encounters but it never dampened my awe of the creatures. They hold a mythical place in
West Coast Indian lore and I feel fortunate that I was able to hear first hand some of the stories handed down in the native villages years ago. Additionally, I've experienced many whales sightings on deliveries up and down the coast from
Alaska to
Costa Rica and never seen them behave aggressively towards a vessel. Curious, yes... at times they seem to want to check you out if you are in their area and traveling in their direction but they seem to have their minds on their
destination most of the time. Nice to give them a wide berth and let them get on with their life... Capt Phil