Thoughts about the Puget Sound orcas that have died
October 24th, 2008 by cdunaganIt was sad and disturbing to find out that seven Puget Sound killer whales have died so far this year.
We haven’t had that number of deaths since 1998 — the year after 19 orcas visited Dyes Inlet between Bremerton and Silverdale. To those who study these whales, the orcas aren’t just seven animals in a herd; they are individuals with unique characteristics; they are members of an extended family that stays together for life.
Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research believes the deaths are related to a shortage of chinook salmon seen this year from California to Washington to British Columbia. I went into some detail about this in a story in today’s Kitsap Sun. I also included a brief “obit” on the animals that died.
I would like to take a moment to remind myself and others that it is unlikely that the deaths were caused by a single factor. I have long been intrigued by the prospect of synergism in these animals, and I would hope that researchers will one day be able to accumulate enough data to support or deny this hypothesis.
What I’m talking about is this: Researchers have promoted three principal causes of the decline in Puget Sound whales, officially known as Southern Residents. They are toxic chemicals (such as PCBs) that have accumulated in their bodies, lack of prey (chinook primarily), and stresses caused by noise, whale-watching boats and other things. For more info, check out the recovery plan for the Southern Residents.
Follow this train of thought:
- PCBs and other chemicals are believed to damage the orcas’ immune systems and reduce their ability to fight off disease.
- If the animals are not getting enough food, they draw upon fat reserves in their blubber. Metabolizing these fats tend to release the toxic chemicals into their bloodstream, exposing their immune systems to more chemicals and further increasing their risk of disease.
- Although the whales seem accustomed to whale-watching boats, anything that causes them to use up excess energy to replenish their energy supplies by hunting for food cannot be a good thing, especially in times of a food shortage. Uninformed boaters sometimes interfere with the whales’ travel during foraging, and noise caused by boats is believed to decrease their efficiency in finding fish through echolocation (their natural sonar system).
In my mind, all of these factors tend to work together. What is often hard to sort out is whether an animal dies of starvation or disease. When food is in short supply, disease may set in before an animal literally starves to death. Also, especially for a hunting species, a disease can reduce their ability to get food, so the outcome is the same. For many species, a higher-level predator may kill an individual that is starving or diseased. But with an animal at the top of the food web, such as killer whales and humans, the dynamics may be different.
I guess I’m just trying to point out that it could be an oversimplification to say the whales starved to death, even if food were a certain factor.
With regard to news sources, I have to confess that this story of the seven missing whales has been in the wind since Oct. 8, but I missed it. Howard Garrett and Susan Berta of Orca Network put something on their Web site, but I overlooked it. Richard Walker, editor of the Journal of the San Juans had talked to Ken Balcomb about that time, but I missed his story until someone pointed it out to me.
Finally, several people have mentioned the coincidental stranding of a killer whale on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. Diana Leone of the Honolulu Advertiser reported that the 18-foot female was emaciated and had “cookie-cutter shark bites” and whale lice, all signs that it had been sick for some time.
CNN posted a user-generated video about the whale.
I understand that researchers are trying to see if the female orca, who was euthanized, can be connected with previous sightings.
I looked up a 2004 Marine Mammal Stock Assessment Report (PDF 56 kb) for a little background. It says Hawaiian killer whales are rarely seen, but the best population estimate is 430. Minimal genetic data indicate that the animals may be related to Gulf of Alaska transient killer whales.
Tags: Center for Whale Research, Puget Sound killer whales, Southern Residents
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
October 27th, 2008 at 7:29 am
Very thoughtful piece, Chris. Thanks for following the issue.
The jeopardy facing orcas highlights how great is the challenge facing the Puget Sound Partnership – not only do we need to get our act together on all the things that are right here in front of us (toxics, runoff, local fishing), but we also are heavily impacted by things like the Sacramento and Columbia salmon fisheries, including the federal mismanagement of dams in California (usually for irrigation/water usage) and Washington (for barge traffic and hydro). PSP has its work cut out for it. Let’s hope the orcas can hang on until things improve.
October 27th, 2008 at 9:45 am
What if it turns out an indian tribe killed the seven orcas? Would anyone object? Puget Sound Chinook are also protected by the ESA and no one seems to care about their wholesale slaughter. The above referenced Puget Sound Partnership, for example… their 22 page list of “strategic priorities and candidate initiatives and action agenda steps” contains NO MENTION of curtailing wipe-out fishing of puget sound salmon, geoducks, etc.
October 27th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Thanks for your report Chris,
this is very sad news, and at some point we can only hope that real action will take place to restore the quality of water in the NW. Will the PSP action agenda do any good? Peter’s comment of “getting involved, its your world too” is really at the heart of the problem.
Those of us who try to get involved are met with comments like Blue Lights, that asks the absurd question if Native Americans killed the whales would anyone care? Ask yourself what is left of the natural resources that we took over stewardship of in the 1850′s from our Native American brothers. Salmon, eagles, herring, etc are all only at 10% of pre colonization levels.
Plenty of people care, but with over 80% of land ownership in private hands, it does come down to individuals changing the way we live, and develop the land. Everyone is for environmental protection, until it impinges on their property, their fishing trip, their hunting trip, their boat trip, their whale watching, their lifestyle.
Its not about who has the right answers, its about who asks the right questions.
The Puget Sound has been one of the most polluted bodies of water in the U.S. since 1993. We’ve lost 85% of wetlands, 50% of our forest cover, 70%-90% of shore birds, and on and on, but the numbers don’t seem to connect with people. The Salmon runs have been decimated for the last century, but as long as we still can go to the store and buy salmon, people don’t seem to care that they aren’t caught locally anymore.
So for those who do care, please support PSP, Friends of Puget Sound, Friends of the San Juan’s, LilyPoint.org and get involved, ask the questions, take responsibility to find out the answers and what you can do.
We all contribute to the problem, and we all need to contribute to the solution, so lets not point fingers… lets roll up our sleeves and get to work.
October 27th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Editorial note to explain Jeff Butts’ reference to “Peter’s comment”:
Peter Hamilton of Lifeforce had sent me some comments about human attitudes regarding orcas. I thought he wanted his observations posted on Watching Our Water Ways, so I did that. I found out later that he wanted me to forward them to our editorial page editor for possible inclusion in the newspaper.
At his request, I’ve removed his comments.
October 27th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
I feel sickened learning that our country is 2nd to China with India in 3rd place for being the 2nd leading country in the world with the ‘Highest Emissions of Organic Water Pollutants?
No wonder our whales die, our fish polluted…and who cares?
When do we take responsibility?
http://www.aneki.com/water_pollution.html
Sharon O’Hara
October 28th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Jeff said: “…get involved, ask the questions…”
In the same post he said: “Salmon, eagles, herring, etc are all only at 10% of pre colonization levels.”
So, I’ll ask a question. Jeff, where can one find the data on “pre-colonization” levels of salmon, eagles, herring, etc?
October 28th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Blue Light asked where can you get information about pre-colonization levels???
You can start with the Bald eagle status report ,2007 published on the WDFW web site, which gives a comprehensive review of not only eagles but other birds, de-forestation, and many other useful facts.
As far as Salmon runs and Herring stocks, I’ve read those facts in several articles, but don’t have exact references, but People for Puget Sound, PSP, as well as Seattle PI, and Vancouver Sun have search engines that will probably get you lots of info.
the takeaway for me on these posts, is to take the responsibility to find out about the state of our environment, and asking questions, will produce answers, and most of the answers are pretty grim. We all need to raise awareness.
October 29th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Jeff,
How is my question about indian tribes killing whales “absurd”? Our local tribes kill Chinook salmon and they are also “protected” by the endangered species act.
As for your “pre-colonization” data… In my experience, “pre-colonization” conditions is often a romantic ideal that many people belonging to the groups you cite believe our recovery efforts should aspire to. It is unrealistic and – ultimately – robs the effort of credibility because of that. Frequently, it is also cited as a baseline to which we should measure. Unfortunately, no one knows what “pre-colonization” levels were. Speaking as if they do, shows a person’s bias, ignorance, and arrogance.