According to the latest data from satellite tags, three orcas - Zoya, Tikhon, and Gayka, released on August 6, are moving towards the Shantar Islands. Being close to the place of release for about a week, the animals actively moved, adapting to the natural habitat conditions, ate fish, which now go to spawn in large shoals in this area. Now the killer whales have left the Sakhalin Gulf and are approaching the Academy Bay.
Two large females from the first and second release groups are located at a distance of 30 km from each other in the Shantar Sea. These are the traditional habitats of wild killer whales. Their families were discovered by VNIRO scientists, who monitored these places from August 8 to 12.
The youngest female Alexandra, released on July 16, has come a long way across the Sea of Okhotsk and is now in the North Okhotsk Sea subzone, about 600 km north of the Shantar Islands. During her free life, she has eaten fish in fixed nets near Chkalov island, hunted near the Northern shores of Sakhalin, then spent more than a week in the open sea north of Sakhalin, prowling on the migration routes of Pacific salmon. Then she, at high speed, overcoming more than 100 km per day, which indicates its good physical shape, crossed the Sea of Okhotsk from east to west, and now has come to the fishing areas in the North Okhotsk Sea Subzone. In general, the nature of Alexandra’s movements after her release indicates that she consistently checks the main areas of summer fishing in the Sea of Okhotsk. This behavior of Alexandra casts doubt on her belonging to the so-called "carnivorous" ecotype, previously determined on the basis of DNA marker analysis.
VNIRO Press Service
Location of two females as of August 12
Location of the orca Alexandra as of August 12
Location of Zoya, Tikhon, and Gayka as of August 12