I began by investigating their recent history in the region. Dolphin sightings had increased dramatically since my arrival, but when I questioned my fishermen neighbors, they agreed there had been none before 1984. Some small cetaceans are difficult to spot and can evade detection for years. Next I turned to ancient native Kwakiutl village sites. Archeologist Donald Mitchell of the University of Victoria had reported that harbor porpoise comprised up to 24 percent of mammal bones at some sites in the Broughton Archipelago.
Harbor porpoises live in groups averaging one to three individuals and are very skittish.
When I contacted Becky Wigen of the University of Victoria, the researcher who had sifted through all the bones, I learned that she had similar doubts. She had not thought to compare bones from the middens with those of white-sided dolphins, because the species wasn't found inshore. C etacean populations are known to appear and disappear. Off Los Angeles, researcher Susan Shane observed in 1983 that when squid moved the resident pilot whales followed them. The pilot whales were quickly replaced by Risso's dolphins.