After the Breach Podcast

Part 3: Twenty Years of Action: Where Do We Go From Here In this third episode of our multi-part series on Southern Resident killer whales, we take a look at some of the best things that have happened, some not necessarily driven by SRKW recovery as well as topics that need to be addressed, challenges with our current political climate, and what people can do. We are planning to have additional episodes focused on other aspects of SRKW recovery to keep these conversations going. It is a marathon, not a sprint. If you are enjoying listening to our podcast, please share this with your friends, follow/subscribe, and leave us feedback/reviews wherever you listen to podcasts! And if you’d like to join Jeff and Sara on a whale watching tour in 2026, please check out to Maya’s Legacy Whale Watching to book! You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook and Youtube. Please send us feedback or questions at afterthebreachpodcast@gmail.com. And remember, stay safe out there.

We had some some incredible winter adventures during our short offseason and although not all of them were with whales they are worth sharing on this episode of After the Breach podcast. We have some cool videos to share on this episode, so check out the show notes on our website to view them. Sara was in Bremer Bay, Australia for her fourth year in a row to spend time with the Bremer Canyon killer whales. We have discussed this unique population of killer whales in depth on episodes 21, 22, 23, and 38. This year Sara captured an incredible encounter with a Bremer killer whale, "Blade," that she captured on video, which you can view in the show notes. She also talks about her encounter with 100+ sperm whales! While Sara was in Australia, Jeff was on a Hawaiian adventure where he encountered a humpback whale that has been documented feeding in the waters off Kamtsjatka, Russia. He also talks about his night snorkel with manta rays and being on Kilauea to witness a massive lava fountaining event. You can check out videos from these adventures on our website as well, in the show notes. Please share our podcast with your friends, subscribe to our podcast, and leave us feedback/reviews wherever you listen to podcasts! If you’d like to join Sara and Jeff on a whale watching tour, please check out Maya’s Legacy Whale Watching for more information and book a whale watching tour! You can also find After the Breach Podcast on Instagram, Facebook and Youtube. If you would like to send us questions, topic ideas, or any feedback reach out at afterthebreachpodcast@gmail.com. And remember, stay safe out there. Photos from this episode: Humpback whale off Kona, Hawaii that has been documented off off Kamtsjatka, Russia. Photo by Jeff Friedman. The beginning of Kilauea fountaining event episode 42 on February 15, 2026. Photo by Jeff Friedman. Videos from this episode:

There were a lot of whales here this January and the winter months are a great time to see them in the Salish Sea. On this episode we talk about our January encounters and who has been present in the Salish Sea this winter. We also discuss how this was not always the case in the Salish Sea and how the old information persists that whale presence is predominantly May - September. But with the increase in both the Bigg's killer whale and humpback populations, and the changing patterns of Southern Resident killer whale presence in the inland waters, whales can be seen in the Salish Sea year-round. While Sara was in Australia with the Bremer Canyon killer whales in January, Jeff is joined by frequent guests Monika Wieland Shields from the Orca Behavior Institute and April Ryan, a marine naturalist and captain with Maya's Legacy Whale Watching. We also announced special, limited availability collaborative whale watching tours with the Orca Behavior Institute and Maya's Legacy Whale Watching. These tours will be available on limited dates in July, 2026. Designed for those who want to experience, learn about and support whale research, this unique tour will give you the chance to learn directly from a killer whale scientist. This tour follows the same half-day format as Maya's Legacy Whale Watching's daily half-day tours, with an added research perspective on board. A guest naturalist from the Orca Behavior Institute will share how scientists observe whales in the field and how observations made on the water contribute to long-term research efforts. These tours are limited in availability: Friday, July 3 — 4:30 PM Friday, July 10 — 3:30 PM Friday, July 17 — 3:30 PM Friday, July 24 — 3:30 PM Wednesday, July 29 — 4:30 PM If you are interested, you can contact Maya's Legacy Whale Watching to reserve seats. We also responded to several listener emails regarding the music at the beginning and end of each episode. Shout out to Other Animal who created original music for After the Breach Podcast. Curious which of our listeners knew there were whale vocals in there? Anyone interested in hearing the full version of the music? Hit us up by email. If you are enjoying listening to our podcast, please share this with your friends, follow/subscribe, and leave us feedback/reviews wherever you listen to podcasts! And if you’d like to join Jeff and Sara on a whale watching tour, please reach out to Maya's Legacy Whale Watching to book! You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook and Youtube. Please send us feedback or questions at afterthebreachpodcast@gmail.com. And remember, stay safe out there. T19C, "Spouter," breaching during a sea lion hunt in January mid-day lighting. Photo by Jeff Friedman, Maya's Legacy Whale Watching.

Returning guest Jared Towers from Bay Cetology joins us on this episode of After the Breach Podcast to discuss a paper he co-authored in the Journal of Comparative Psychology, "Testing the Waters: Attempts by Wild Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) to Provision People (Homo sapiens)." Before getting into the paper, we talk a bit about the recent release of the updated Bigg's killer whale identification catalog! This is the first updated catalog since 2019 and hosts Sara and Jeff talk with Jared about the release. We move into the discussion about Jared's paper, which made international media when it was published earlier this year. What does it mean to provision people? What populations of killer whales are doing this? Why might they be doing this, what are possible motivations? What types of prey are they sharing? We discuss these questions and more with Jared, and we all share some examples of this from of our own experiences on the water with killer whales. If you are enjoying listening to our podcast, please share this with your friends, follow/subscribe, and leave us feedback/reviews wherever you listen to podcasts! And if you’d like to join Jeff and Sara on a whale watching tour in 2026, please check out to Maya’s Legacy Whale Watching to book! You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook and Youtube. Please send us feedback or questions at afterthebreachpodcast@gmail.com. And remember, stay safe out there. Links from this episode: Testing the Waters: Attempts by Wild Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) to Provision People (Homo sapiens): https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2026-29805-001.html Photo-identification Catalogue and Status of the Coastal Subset of the West Coast Transient Population of Bigg’s Killer Whale in British Columbia, Canada: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/398258949_Photo-identification_Catalogue_and_Status_of_the_Coastal_Subset_of_the_West_Coast_Transient_Population_of_Bigg's_Killer_Whale_in_British_Columbia_Canada Bay Cetology: https://baycetology.org/ Finwave: https://finwave.io/

We've mentioned him on many episodes. He's a young and fascinating whale, a social butterfly and sometimes a troublemaker. On this episode of After the Breach, Jeff and Sara are joined once again by Monika Wieland Shield of the Orca Behavior Institute to talk about T65A5 “Indy”. This young male has been dispersed since he was five years old and we talk about his history, his family, and some of his more interesting predicaments. We always ask the question, where and with whom will Indy be next? He was invited to join this episode of the podcast to tell his story but we did not receive a reply. After our discussion about Indy, we chat about some of the latest summer sightings here in the Salish Sea! If you are enjoying listening to our podcast, please share this with your friends, follow/subscribe, and leave us feedback/reviews wherever you listen to podcasts! And if you’d like to join Jeff and Sara on a whale watching tour, please reach out to Maya’s Legacy Whale Watching to book! You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook and Youtube. Please send us feedback or questions at afterthebreachpodcast@gmail.com. And remember, stay safe out there. Links from this episode: Orca Behavior Institute: https://www.orcabehaviorinstitute.org/ Maya's Legacy Whale Watching: https://sanjuanislandwhalewatch.com/ Photos: T65A5 Indy in 2014. Photo by Sara Hysong Shimazu T65A5 Indy Sept 2025. Photo by April Ryan, Maya's Legacy Whale Watching.

Joining us on the latest episode of After the Breach Podcast we welcome back Dr. Cindy Elliser from PacMam Research to talk to us about a very important, non-cetacean that inhabits the Salish Sea—the harbor seal! These pinnipeds are an important species, both as prey and as predators. We talk about PacMam’s latest paper about site fidelity, and also learn some interesting facts about these charismatic creatures. We also get into seal politics and discuss why seals get a bad rap, why this is not deserved, and how culling pinnipeds will not accomplish what some think it might (and could be devastating to Bigg’s killer whales). If you are enjoying listening to our podcast, please share this with your friends, follow/subscribe, and leave us feedback/reviews wherever you listen to podcasts! And if you’d like to join Jeff and Sara on a whale watching tour, please reach out to Maya’s Legacy Whale Watching to book! You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook and Youtube. Please send us feedback or questions at afterthebreachpodcast@gmail.com. And remember, stay safe out there. Links from this episode: Pacific Mammal Research: www.pacmam.org Pacific Mammal Research on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pacificmammalresearch/# Pacific Mammal Research on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PacificMammalResearch Pacific Mammal Research on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pacificmammalresearch Resident Harbor Porpoises (Phocoena phocoena vomerina) in the Salish Sea: Photo-Identification Shows Long-Term Site Fidelity, Natal Philopatry, and Provides Insights into Longevity and Behavior: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-1924/6/1/9 Increased presence of mammal-eating killer whales in the Salish Sea with implications for predator-prey dynamics: https://peerj.com/articles/6062/

March was an incredible month for whale sightings in the Salish Sea, with killer whales encountered on almost 90% of our tours with Maya's Legacy Whale Watching. On this episode of After the Breach Podcast, Sara and Jeff share several stories about the whales they encountered in March, including a brand new calf (T46B3A) with the T46Bs. They are part of the amazing legacy of T46, and Sara and Jeff tell her story in this episode. Also included is a discussion of the T49As and T19s and their frequent spring encounters hunting sea lions in the San Juan Islands. The episode also includes other killer whales encountered throughout the month. If you are enjoying listening to our podcast, please share this with your friends, follow/subscribe, and leave us feedback/reviews wherever you listen to podcasts! And if you’d like to join Jeff and Sara on a whale watching tour, please reach out to Maya’s Legacy Whale Watching to book! You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook and Youtube. Please send us feedback or questions at afterthebreachpodcast@gmail.com. And remember, stay safe out there. Links from this episode: Orca Behavior Institute Salish Sea Killer Whale Sightings for March 2025: https://www.instagram.com/p/DIUCfY4v_sJ/ T46C2 whale rescue, After the Breach podcast episode 33: https://www.afterthebreachpodcast.com/e/episode-33-more-killer-whale-rescues-t46c2-t73b-t109a3a/ Baby orca is a descendent of a whale almost sold to SeaWorld in 1976: https://www.popsci.com/environment/new-orca-calf/ Photos & videos from this episode: T46B3A. Photo by Sara Shimazu T46B3A. Photo by Sara Shimazu T46B3A. Photo by Sara Shimazu

Sara, Jeff and a group of After the Breach Podcast listeners just returned from the Dominican Republic where they spent a week with North Atlantic humpback whales in their winter breeding waters on the Silver Bank. The plan was to record this episode from the Silver Bank, but everyone was having so much fun (and there were some technical difficulties), so it had to be recorded after Sara and Jeff returned home to Friday Harbor, Washington. Joining Jeff and Sara to recount some of the highlights are two members of the Maya’s Legacy Whale Watching crew, who also joined the charter to the Silver Bank. Alex McIntire and Mikayla Riley both had their first in-water experience with whales and have a chance to share the memories of their first swim—and also all of the other memorable encounters they had that week. It was an incredible week that had a lot of in water encounters with moms and young calves, including TW and her calf ("Floppy Disco"). Jeff also swam with TW on the Silver Bank in 2023. The entire group also had a rare and coveted encounter with dancers, which are acrobatic, curious humpbacks. Check out some of the videos on the Episode 39 page or on our YouTube channel. A huge shout out to the amazing team at Conscious Breath Adventures—Gene, Cat, and Jeff—and to the hardworking crew of the Sea Hunter. They all make the live aboard and humpback encounters a life changing experience. And special thanks to the amazing humpback whale TW and her 2025 calf. We are wishing them an easy and successful migration north this spring.Jeff and Sara will have more information soon on upcoming trips, both near and far. In the meantime, if you’d like to join them for some After the Breach fun, they’re hosting two separate weekends in 2025 in the San Juan Islands that each include two full days on the water looking for whales and wildlife in the Salish Sea. The first is on May 17-18th. The second is September 20-21st. Reach out to at afterthebreachpodcast@gmail.com to learn more and to sign up for one or both weekends! If you are enjoying listening to our podcast, please share this with your friends, follow/subscribe, and leave us feedback/reviews wherever you listen to podcasts! And if you’d like to join Jeff and Sara on a trip then reach out to Maya’s Legacy Whale Watching to book! You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook and Youtube. Please send us feedback or questions at afterthebreachpodcast@gmail.com. And remember, stay safe out there. Links from this episode: Conscious Breath Adventures: https://www.consciousbreathadventures.com/ Photos & Videos from this episode: Humpback whale TW, named for the marking on her left pec fin. This was the start of humpback whale Mojo's dancing over several minutes. She continued dancing on and off for about an hour. Humpback whale TW and her 2025 calf, Floppy Disco, who approached several times to get a closer look.

On Episode 37 of the podcast, co-hosts, Jeff and Sara, welcome back returning guests Monika Wieland Shields of the Orca Behavior Institute and Michael Weiss of the Center for Whale Research. With two very different populations of killer whales using the waters of the Salish Sea they wanted to delve deeper into the calf survival rates of the two populations. Are they the same? Are they different? Jeff and Sara chat with these two researchers about that. This comes after the loss of calf L128 who was born to L90 “Ballena” this summer. The four talk about her, why this was a unique situation, and really take a look at the reproductive success of a food-limited population versus one that is not food-limited. They also chat about the joint field study between Center for Whale Research and Orca Behavior Institute in Puget Sound that kicked off this November. It’s an exciting project and we learn more about it and what they learned from their first sessions down in Puget Sound. Links from this episode: Center for Whale Research: https://www.whaleresearch.com/ Orca Behavior Institute: https://www.orcabehaviorinstitute.org/

Joining us on episode 35 of After the Breach podcast is special guest Alexandra Morton. She has been called "the Jane Goodall of Canada" because of her incredible thirty-year fight to save British Columbia's wild salmon. She joins hosts Sara and Jeff to talk about her journey from whale researcher to wild salmon activist and back to whale researcher. The episode begins with Alexandra talking about how she got started studying orca communication in California with killer whales Corky and Orky, sharing some fascinating stories from her time with them. She then discusses her move to British Columbia to study wild killer whales, including Corky's family. The conversation moves on to why she turned her attention to lead the fight to save the wild salmon these orcas depend on from the devastating impacts of open net fish farms and industrial aquaculture. Throughout the conversation she shares the challenges she faced, how she found a path to create change and begin the removal of open net salmon farms in B.C. She also shares a few ways people everywhere can help save wild salmon. We conclude our conversation talking about what is next for her, including a return to her passion for studying killer whales. She tells amazing stories throughout the episode. Links mentioned in this episode: Alexandra Morton: https://www.alexandramorton.ca/ Books by Alexandra Morton: Not on My Watch:How a renegade whale biologist took on governments and industry to save wild salmon: https://www.amazon.com/Not-My-Watch-biologist-governments/dp/0735279667 Listening to Whales: What the Orcas Have Taught Us: https://www.amazon.com/Listening-Whales-What-Orcas-Taught/dp/0345442881 Orcalab: https://orcalab.org/

After a fall hiatus while our co-hosts, Jeff and Sara, were busy on the water, the dynamic duo is back with Episode 33! Joining them is returning guest, Jared Towers, from Bay Cetology. Jared last visited to chat about the rescue of T51 “Roswell” and T49A2 “Jude” from Barnes Lake in Alaska on Episode 19 and he is back now to talk about more killer whale rescues that he’s been involved with. The three of them start out talking about T46C2 “Sam” and her entrapment in a bay on Aristazabal Island in British Columbia. The then-four year old was surreptitiously found by two killer whale researchers who were able to rally a response that included Jared. He talks about that rescue, what they did, and what they learned from it. That feeds into the story of T73B who stayed in Comox Harbor in 2018 for a week. Unlike Sam’s story, T73B was an independent male and Comox Harbor was a very busy harbor and it was the busiest time of year—midsummer! The response had similarities but also a lot of differences to the previous one. And last, but certainly not least, Jared talks about the rescue of T109A3A “Kʷiisaḥiʔis” (aka. Brave Little Hunter) from Zeballos, BC. this spring after her mother stranded and drowned. The ongoing rescue, which took about a month, was complicated, extensive, and really highlighted that what these rescues all share is that in the end, the whales involved are the ones calling the shots. The story of T109A3A is ongoing, with some confirmed sightings of her afterwards and we will all have to wait and see what happens in the future. If you are enjoying listening to our podcast, please share this with your friends, follow/subscribe, and leave us feedback/reviews wherever you listen to podcasts! And if you’d like to join Jeff and Sara on a trip then reach out to Maya’s Legacy Whale Watching to book! You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook and Youtube. Please send us feedback or questions at afterthebreachpodcast@gmail.com. Links from this episode: Bay Cetology: https://baycetology.org/ Bay Cetology Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baycetology Killer whale observed dragging sailboat around Vancouver Island Harbor: https://youtu.be/zLMvUOq7Bms?si=jJBp91pYxFO6x-He

On Episode 31 Jeff and Sara catch up on the most recent sightings in the Salish Sea and which whales have been seen lately. It’s been a hectic few weeks and they had recorded this previously and then there was just so much more happening that they had to record it again. And it’s a good thing too — they both sit down to record after a crazy day on the water with 38 killer whales and some humpback whales too! During the episode you’ll hear Sara reference 34 whales but they actually realized there were even more after the fact! You’ll hear about that encounter from the two of them as well as some other recent sightings, including a visit by T51 “Roswell” who was one of the whales from Episode 19. He was stuck in a saltwater lake last summer along with T49A2 “Jude” for 44 days! The pair’s photo workshop is filling up but space remains, so if you’re interested in joining them on August 24-25th, 2024 for two all-day tours then reach out to get the details and sign up. Last year’s trips were great and they can’t wait to see what happens this year! Photos from this episode: Photos from group of over 30 Biggs killer whales. Photo by Jeff Friedman Humpback whale traveling through group of killer whales. Photo by Sara Shimazu Drawing of a donkey by Divot & calf Videos from this episode: