Orcas are appearing more frequently than ever off the Northumberland coast, delighting wildlife spotters and raising questions about the reasons behind the increase. In the past, fishers might have glimpsed orcas far out to sea, but this year and last, sightings have been more regular and much closer to shore, with dolphins also becoming more common.
Local Tour Operators Report Surge in Sightings
Andrew Douglas, who owns Serenity Boat Tours, first saw the orcas last year and described his reaction: “I was like a little child … excited as hell.” He added, “And I looked around at everybody else, and the smiles are just beaming, and you just think to yourself, that’s what it’s all about. The big dorsal fins on the males are just absolutely huge, it just makes you smile, it’s really cool.” Since then, he and his crew have spotted pods a handful of times; previously, he had only seen orcas once, at age 20.
Crewman Aaron Fordy, born and raised in Seahouses, has seen the orcas four times and can recite the specific dates. “You’re used to dolphins and porpoises and things which are a lot smaller,” he said, “and then you get an orca which is massive, big dorsal fins, they stick out like a sore thumb as well, just black and white in a blue sea, it’s really cool.”
Potential Explanations: Sandeel Fishing Ban and Ecosystem Health
Douglas believes a government ban on sandeel fishing, implemented about two years ago, has made a significant difference. “That’s the best thing the government’s done so far,” he said. “Not just from the orcas, but from dolphins and other things, you don’t pinch from the bottom of the food chain, you need that bottom of the food chain to get the rest of the stuff working, and it’s made a massive difference for the birds as well.” Sandeels are small fish that feed animals at the bottom of the food chain, and their removal had affected higher predators.
Dr. Conor Ryan, an honorary research fellow at the Scottish Association for Marine Science, said the sandeel fishing ban was “a very logical place to look for an explanation.” He explained, “By removing the bottom of the food chain, what we do is we decrease the biomass of the whole system so there’s less energy, less calories available for everybody in the ecosystem, and usually top predators are the ones that really suffer from that.” He added that studying whales is a good “litmus test for how the ecosystem is doing,” and “if you’re getting big predators returning to an area, that’s a good sign of a healthy ecosystem.”
Researchers Caution on Drawing Conclusions
However, Dr. Ryan cautioned that there is “not really a clear picture” to explain the increase, noting factors such as better publicised sightings, orcas moving inshore, or growing populations. He also warned that orcas have struggled to breed in polluted British waters, and the west coast population is on the verge of dying out.
Julia Sutherland, a researcher at the University of St Andrews, said orcas are “highly mobile animals” and “it could be a combination of increase in presence, but it also could be a slight increase in reporting as well, thanks to social media.” She added, “What we know about killer whales here in the UK is we’re lacking so much knowledge in comparison to elsewhere in the world, so it’s quite hard to draw really concrete conclusions at this stage.”
Dr. Luke Rendell, also from the University of St Andrews, noted that “the population of orca around the UK is actually one of the most polluted in the world and so they don’t have a great reproductive potential,” but described them as “exploratory and curious animals.” He suggested, “Some of it could just be exploration and expanding their knowledge, some of it could be a reduction in the food resources where they were before and needing to explore more.”
Impact on Local Tourism
The increased orca sightings have boosted local tourism. Douglas noted that while the Farne Islands are an attraction in themselves, he has seen “spurts of it getting a lot busier” since the orca sightings. “Having the orca, it doesn’t half boost things,” he said. Participants on his tours often ask, “When will we see the orcas?” But, he said, “they’re just unpredictable, so you never know.”
Researchers have identified that rather than the same pod returning, the sightings have been of several different pods, based on videos sent to experts in Shetland.
