Re: Son of response to Nick Pharris

[JohnE37179@aol.com]

Re the surfer on a surf board:  Divers and surfers in wet suits look a great
deal like a seal.  Years ago when I worked at the Polar Research Center at U
of W (post IGY) there were a number of reports of orcas stalking divers on
shelf ice. It was concluded that a diver in a black wet suit placing and
removing sensors from the shelf ice looked very much like a seal.  However, I
don't recall any attacks, just close approaches.  If you've ever smelled a
seal in the wild close up, you'd lnow that at close range divers adn seals
are easy to tell apart.  But a surfer bouncing (falling) in the surf would
look a great deal like a seal.  Many of the surfing beaches are near kelp
forests, which  are seal habitat. I can understand the confusion in that
environment.

John Ellingson

Now landlocked in Madison, WI