White sides have been back on the Inside for years now but never in these numbers.
[youtube]YjYDFHQdiwc[/youtube]
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White Sided Dolphin Superpod Strait of Georgia
- Thread starter bill barilko
- Start date
I have been surrounded by schools of dolphins while fishing west coast a couple of times awesome sight.
I have also had dolphins bow riding while crossing the straight .
But I have never seen a large school like that in the straight.
When you are surrounded by the large school one can't help but be amazed that they aren't running into each other .
They are moving everywhere at once ,groups of 2 to 5 abreast ,in and out of the water in different directions with no apparent
order yet they never collide .Simply incredible to see .
Watching a family bow ride is also incredible . I am blessed to have witnessed so much of natures wonder.
Unlike seals sealion and orca I have never witnessed dolphin targeting salmon .Not saying it doesn't happen .
I've seen it many times-Whitesides slashing through schools of Pinks & Chums-there's a small explosion next to the boat /a spray of blood & scales in the water and that's all she wrote.
Locally as it happens most Salmon have already ascended their natal rivers-in the larger picture I'd say little effect at all- anecdotal evidence is that Dolphins usually target Herring first and local Herring stocks are healthy.
You have little idea of how far & how fast those animals can travel-and of how much food there is for them.
For example I can leave my apartment in downtown Vancouver and in 15 minutes or less be watching clouds of baitfish around the docks on English Bay these schools are always around-people are often amazed when I point them out they just never look below the surface of the water-something about human nature it's easier to believe idiotic stories about the oceans all dying.
Since salmon also feed on herring this isn't necessarily good for the local runs in the long term. Unless we totally eliminate fishing by humans and let nature be natural.
I somehow just don't see that happening.
You don't know what you're talking about and have no idea of the sheer mass of Herring extant Inside-hundreds & hundreds & hundreds of tonnes washing back & forth in Georgia Strait with the tides-when was the last time you looked @ the sounder on your boat when crossing the Strait?
You do have a boat don't you?
And FYI not all Salmon feed on Herring-Pinks, Chums and Sockeye for instance rarely take Herring preferring to feed on plankton & jellies.
Note that the Dolphins as shown usually are found north of Campbell River but come south from time to time especially September through March.
Most of my time on the water has been north of CR. Most of the inlets and all the way to Pr. Rupert. Never seen that many Dolphins in one spot though. And as I recall the herring take has had some radical ups and downs. That of course could possibly be chalked up to DFO incompetence and not related to supply.
Pinks are voracious feeders and do feed on herring and any other bait fish they can find .
When fishing coho or spring you can not even get your bait down to deapth before being taken by pinks.
I have seen pinks with hundreds of little silverfish in their stomach and gullet .
Sockeye are caught trolling by trailling a hootchie 2 to 3 feet behind a flasher .A hoothcie looks like a fish .
The British are an island, seafaring race, living in a country surrounded by the dolphin-infested Atlantic and the North Sea. None of us lives more than 50 miles from the sea, unlike millions of Canadians who live thousands of miles from it. I've probably seen more dolphins and other marine creatures in their natural habitat than you have.
Our country is surrounded by them. And it doesn't take long to drive to the coast in this country no matter where you are.
The British coast is also home to more grey seals than the rest of the world put together.