[Paddlewise] Clarification

        A lot of my reaction to the statement essentially proposing to
restrict whale watching to kayaks comes from the recent Orca migrations in
Puget Sound this winter. Kayakers from all over Seattle, Western Canada, and
at least as far south as Portland were flocking to the Sound to "watch" the
Orcas. The attention and "appreciation" of this migration got so frenetic
that suburbanites in the South Sound were parking cars in the petunia beds
at $5.00 and $10.00 a space. There was a hoard of kayakers "following" the
whales. 

        The authorities warned, and pleaded with boaters not to "chase" the
whales, and I ran into this clown in Portland making the comment, "We're not
chasing them, we're just following. . . trying to catch up with them."

        What appears as following to one kayaker comes out as chasing when
it becomes purposeful and relentless. Like the stalker claiming he's "just
walking down the street," that allegedly harmless walk becomes terrifying to
the stalkee. 

        While intentions may be the best, too often I see the putative
"nature lovers" creating stress on the species--literally loving them to
death. What I'm reacting to (admitedly knee-jerk. . . or some kind of jerk)
is the somewhat defensive assertions that  "We know what we're doing, and
besides we love them and would never hurt them." 

        I keep coming up with the image of this jerk in Portland assuring
me, "We're not chasing them! We're just trying to catch up to them!" I don't
think there was any intentional or even ancillary disturbance of the whales
and seals, but who knows what runs through their heads at the sight of a kayak?

        Sorry. . . I confess that I spend too much free-time at the keyboard
and not nearly enough on the water. 

        Geo. 

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