A group of property owners on Hood Head in northern Hood Canal say they have joined forces to lease a nearby beach from the Washington Department of Natural Resources — mainly because they didn’t want to see what a typical commercial geoduck farm might do to the beach near their part-time homes.

The DNR never went through with the lease, instead imposing a moratorium on geoduck farms on state land until more research could be done regarding the environmental effects. For information, including a report to the Legislature on geoduck farming, see the Department of Ecology’s page about the Shellfish Aquaculture Regulatory Committee.

But the Hood Head owners, having spent money on various kinds of beach surveys, are still pursuing a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers (PDF 5.8 mb) in case the lease goes forward in the future.

I outlined their ideas in a story published in today’s Kitsap Sun. Bruce Olsen, whose name is on the application, said he is convinced that using plastic mesh tubes to protect the geoducks will be less environmentally damaging than plastic pipes used on other geoduck farms.

I did not include in my story any comments from those who are opposing geoduck farms in other areas — mainly because the folks I talked to were unaware of the tubes that I described. Still, I can tell you that some people are skeptical of any operation in which one species would dominate a beach.

Would that be the result if geoducks were grown a foot apart on Hood Head? And would the disruption of the beach during harvest activities be an acceptable price to pay for economic returns on the giant clams, which fetch a considerable amount of money on the international market?

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Is all whaling the same? I don’t think so, but I am beginning to see why anti-whaling groups wish to draw a line in the sand and stop all whale killing.

I admit I am fascinated by the program “Whale Wars” on the Animal Planet network. The weekly show gives us an inside look at how the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society confronts Japanese whalers in the Antarctic.

I also admit to believing that Japanese whalers are probably not taking enough minke whales to harm the regional population in the Antarctic. And surely the so-called “scientific research” is at least keeping track of the populations, the number of whales killed and their genetic makeup.

But new research coming out of Oregon State University has profoundly shifted my attitude about Japanese whaling and the dire need for increased international attention.

DNA analysis of whale meat sold to the public has revealed that perhaps as many whales are killed in coastal areas near Japan and South Korea — where whaling is outlawed under international agreement — as are taken in the Antarctic.

How can this be?

The dead minke whales from coastal waters, apparently not always counted, are attributed to incidental “bycatch” in net fisheries, according to Scott Baker, associate director of the Marine Mammal Institute at OSU.

Japan and South Korea are the only countries that allow this kind of bycatch to be sold, he says.

Baker and his colleague, Vimoksalehi Lukoscheck of the University of California-Irvine, presented their findings at the recent meeting of the International Whaling Commission. It was there that Japan was seeking approval to allow whaling off its coast.

Baker says the Japanese proposal demands careful scrutiny, given his findings and the need to identify and sustain distinct stocks of minke whales.

.“The sale of bycatch alone supports a lucrative trade in whale meat at markets in some Korean coastal cities, where the wholesale price of an adult minke whale can reach as high as $100,000,” Baker said in an OSU news release. “Given these financial incentives, you have to wonder how many of these whales are, in fact, killed intentionally.”

Baker said the bycatch of whales provides a cover for illegal whaling, which is difficult to detect. Last year, Korean police began to look into organized illegal whaling in the port town of Ulsan, where they seized 50 tons minke whale meat.

Baker’s genetic studies have identified other whale meat on the market as well — including some from humpback whales, fin whales, Bryde’s whales and the critically endangered western Pacific gray whales, which may be on the verge of extinction.

I believe hunting has its place in wildlife management, but the Asian marketing in dead whales appears to be out of control and troubling on many levels.

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Gov. Chris Gregoire has appointed three new members of the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission. They are:

David Jennings of Olympia, who has been active in fish and wildlife issues for nearly 20 years, according to the Governor’s Office;
Rollie Schmitten of Lake Chelan, former director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and former director of the National Marine Fisheries Service; and
Brad Smith, dean of Huxley College of Environmental Studies at Western Washington University in Bellingham.

The three will serve terms that end in December 2014. The commission oversees the Department of Fish and Wildlife, which manages natural resources and regulates hunting and fishing seasons.

Schmitten replaces Jerry Gutzwiler, a Wenatchee orchardist; Smith replaces Will Roehl, a Bellingham attorney; and Jennings replaces Shirley Solomon of Mount Vernon, chairwoman of the Skagit Watershed Council.

More information about the three as well as background on the ongoing commission members:
(more…)

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A mood of disappointment seemed to hang over delegates as the International Whaling Commission’s annual meeting came to an end in Portugal.

No real accomplishments were cited, and the debate between whaling and anti-whaling advocates will go on.

Perhaps the most positive comment I saw was by Patrick Ramage of the International Fund for Animal Welfare in a story by Association Press reporter Barry Hatton. Hatton made the point that the IWC was set up in 1949 to allocate the whale harvest and now discusses environment threats, such as pollution and climate change.

Said Ramage, “The tone and substance (of the talks) reflect a steady drift towards the IWC becoming a conservation forum and away from being a whalers’ club.”

Other reports worth noting:

OrcaLab
Agence France Presse:
The Christian Science Monitor
BBC News
Reuters
Radio Australia

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When the Southern Resident killer whales came south out of Canada over the weekend, all three pods were together for a time.

Biologists for the Center for Whale Research were able to identify all known members of all three pods on Sunday, which means that none of the whales have died the past few months. It also means that apparently no new babies have been born.

Here’s the report filed Sunday along with some great photos by the Center for Whale Research.

After watching several whales pass by the Center and receiving various reports of more whales up north, both Orca and Starlet (boats) departed. At approximately 4:10 p.m. both vessels encountered J, K, and L pods traveling in tight groups up Boundary Pass. It appears that all members of the three pods were present, totaling 86 whales. The encounter ended at 6:30 p.m. The whales were traveling tight in two groups and continued north up Boundary Pass.
Observers: Ken Balcomb, Howard Garrett, Erin Heydenreich, Emma Foster and Basil Von Ah

Howard Garrett of Orca Network informed me this afternoon that he had received a report that L pod, now intact with the L-12 subpod, had headed back out of the area. I haven’t yet discussed this with folks tracking salmon, but it probably means that the whales are not finding an adequate number of chinook to make it worth staying around.

If anyone has any new information about test fisheries in the San Juan Island area, please pass it on.

Orca Network remains the best single source of information about the movements of whales, because the managers of the Web site take reports from whale watch boats as well as research scientists. The organization posts daily updates, which are sent to anyone who signs up for the e-mail.

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Anti-whaling groups are turning to economics as a key reason why all countries should discontinue commercial whaling.

A report commissioned by the International Fund for Animal Welfare concludes that the whale-watching industry has more than doubled over the past decade. In 2008, more than 13 million people in 119 countries and territories participated in whale watching, generating a total $2.1 billion in direct expenditures, the report says.

The report, by Economists at Large & Associates of Melbourne, Australia, was released at this week’s International Whaling Commission’s Meeting in Madeira, Portugal.

From the report:

Across the globe, the whale watching industry has grown at an average rate of 3.7% per year, comparing well against global tourism growth of 4.2% per year over the same period.

But the growth rate of whale watching at a global level tells only part of the story. At a regional level, average annual growth has occurred well above growth in tourism rates in five of the seven regions in this report: Asia (17% per year), Central America and the Caribbean (13% per year), South America (10% per year), Oceania and the Pacific Islands (10% per year) and Europe (7%), evidence of strongly emerging industries…

The picture that emerges is of an industry that provides a new model for use of natural resources — an industry that relies on whales in a non‐extractive way. That, when well managed, can be truly sustainable and provide a sharp contrast to the days when whales were seen solely as a resource to be hunted and consumed.

It should be noted, however, that whaling watching itself is not without its impacts. The IWC has focused considerable attention on this issue as well. See this year’s report from the Scientific Subcommittee on Whale Watching (PDF 220 kb).

Meanwhile, a report commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund International concludes that whaling activities in Japan and Norway are not profitable by themselves and probably would not exist without subsidies. The June 18 issue of Science News reviews that study.

Iceland and Japan argue that whaling is an important cultural tradition and should be maintained even as the whale-watching industry grows.

“Allegations that whaling affects whale watching have proven not to be true,” said Tomas Heidar, Iceland’s commissioner to the IWC, in a report by Richard Black of the BBC. “On the contrary, whale watching has been growing steadily in the last few years after our resumption of commercial whaling [in 2006].”

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Among all the gloomy stories about declining salmon runs, I am pleased to tell the positive story about the restoration of Hood Canal summer chum. See Sunday’s story in the Kitsap Sun.

For this population of salmon, biologists and political leaders have followed through on a carefully crafted recovery program. Since the late 1980s, researchers have studied these fish to an unusual degree — from the genetic makeup of the summer chum to their migratory patterns. As a result, they have been able to judge when things were going well or not so well.

Temporary hatcheries have been used to rebuild the summer chum runs in numerous Hood Canal streams. After boosting the numbers, most hatcheries have been discontinued. Now, the future of these fish will be determined by the quality of the habitat and changes in the natural system.

If you click over to the Sunday story, you will have access to a more in-depth series I wrote in 2003, before many of the recent successes could be reported.

I’m not working today, because I’ve been hit by some kind of bug that’s sapped my energy, so I won’t write more right now. I just wanted to make sure everyone was aware of my Sunday piece about the summer chum.

UPDATE (Tuesday, June 23): I’m back in action today and realized that I had not included the Web sites that will give you a ton of information about Hood Canal summer chum:
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
National Marine Fisheries Service

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While some Southern Resident killer whales are still out of the area, J pod has returned to our inland waterway (Point Roberts at the moment). We also have the L-12s and a few Ks, according to Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research.

We’ll wait and see if any of these whales show up for Orca Sing tomorrow night. See my previous Water Ways entry.

There’s another interesting orca event going on next week, which is worth some attention. It’s called “Southern Resident Orcas, Then and Now: What Have We Learned?” It’s sponsored by Orca Network, the Seattle Aquarium and Puget Sound Partnership.

I’m anticipating that the highlight of this social event will be recently unearthed film footage of the 1971 killer whale capture in Penn Cove on Whidbey Island. The late Don McGaffin, a reporter for KING 5 TV, became thoroughly involved in the story, asking the right questions.

Ralph Munro, former secretary of state for Washington and a longtime advocate for orcas, helped bring this dramatic footage to light and make it available for Tuesday’s event. I’ve previewed the film, which takes us back to what seems like another world.

You will see in the film orcas thrashing about in a tiny pen, as people with ropes looped around the animals try to move them around.

At one point, McGaffin sits down on a dock with the water behind him and looks into the camera.

“Whale catchers and oceanarians keep pounding the public relations drum, taking the position that one of the reasons the killer whale is taken is for scientific reasons,” McGaffin notes. “Yet some marine biologists don’t know whether to laugh or cry at that suggestion.”

McGaffin then points out that one may study the physical structure of a captive killer whale — but what about their social structure, their feeding choices, their travel patterns?

“What they really don’t know is if the whales taken by (Ted) Griffin and (Don) Goldsberry these past seven years are from the same family or the same pod, yet the captures go on.”

At the time, researchers knew little about Puget Sound orcas. Of course, McGaffin could not know that these whales would become one of the most studied marine mammal populations in the world. Today, thanks to Ken Balcomb and a convenient family structure among the whales, we can draw all the family trees going back 35 years.

The recently unearthed film also includes interviews with biologists and politicians who talk about the captures from their points of view.

“The struggle to protect the Puget Sound killer whales has many heroes,” Ralph Munro says. “Perhaps first and foremost is the late Don McGaffin of KING 5 television and publisher Wallie Funk of the Whidbey News Times newspaper. Both Don and Wallie risked their lives to get detailed pictures of the captures and the sorting of whales during the 1970s.”

Ralph will provide commentary to the film. Others expected to make comments are Bill Ruckelshaus of Puget Sound Partnership, Howard Garrett of Orca Network and Gary Chittim of KING 5 TV, who will provide more recent footage of killer whales.

Tickets are $50 per person to cover expenses. Any proceeds will go to special projects by Orca Network.

For information or to purchase tickets, go to Orca Network or call (360) 678-3451.

Ralph sent the following letter to promote Tuesday’s event:

(more…)

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We’re getting reports from all over Hood Canal as well as other waterways about plankton blooms that are coloring the water red, reddish orange and other dramatic colors. See the story in today’s Kitsap Sun.

Plankton bloom near Seabeck on Hood Canal yesterday (Click to enlarge)
Photo by Don Paulson, Seabeck

Health authorities and researchers are checking to make sure the plankton are not the kind that create toxins that can poison people, pets or sea creatures. So far, reports indicate that most of the plankton belong to the genus Noctiluca, which don’t appear to cause a safety problem.

I’ve heard some great descriptions regarding “ribbons” of color lining the shore in various places. Folks often have trouble capturing the visual drama in a photograph. A rare exception is a picture we received today from Don Paulson of Don Paulson Photography. Paulson says he captured this picture yesterday at his home near Seabeck.

If anyone else has been able to get a good image, please send it along to me by e-mail, and I’ll post the best.

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President Obama is being praised for his decision to pull together all the ocean-related challenges this nation faces and for plotting a unified course of action.

On Friday, the president issued a memorandum calling for a task force to develop a national ocean policy along with a “framework” for action and a set of objectives. See the Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies, along with a news story by reporter Doug Palmer of Reuters.

I was tempted to state cynically that actions speak louder than words, so we should curb our enthusiasm about what can be done to save the oceans. But then I talked to Bill Ruckelshaus, who co-chairs the Joint Ocean Commission, a national group dedicated to this topic.

Ruckelshaus seems to be thrilled with this latest development, following years of failed promises from the Bush administration.

“This is quite a significant event, really,” Bill told me. “It moves the oceans up on the presidential agenda, which means they will get more attention from Congress and from agencies in the administration. Presidencies are all about setting agendas, and this means more attention will be paid to the recommendations we made.”

I’ll tell you a little more about what my conversation with Mr. Ruckelshaus, but first I’ll review the history.

Five years ago, similar praise was accorded to President Bush after the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy — a presidentially appointed body — released it’s comprehensive examination of the major problems facing the oceans. The report included a list of potential solutions.

Adm. James D. Watkins, a retired Navy officer who chaired the commission, expressed enthusiasm for the reception he felt the report was getting from the Bush administration.

“President Bush’s response to the Commission’s Report and his signing of Executive Order establishing a Secretarial-level Committee on Ocean Policy … sets into motion the important process of developing and implementing a new national ocean policy,” Watkins declared.

Despite the positive reaction, I don’t believe a whole lot came about. (Review the last three “report cards.”) A separate report written by the Pew Oceans Commission received even less attention.

After the two commissions dissolved, some members — including Ruckelshaus — moved into a new organization called the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative, a nongovernmental group that maintained pressure for action through annual “report cards” relating the progress, or lack thereof, on ocean issues.

In April of this year, the joint commission issued an urgent new report called “Changing Oceans, Changing World: Ocean Priorities for the Obama Administration and Congress” (PDF 280 kb). I outlined that report in a Water Ways entry on April 7.

And so now we come to today, five months into the new administration, which seems to be trying to do everything at once. Can there really be much energy left for a discussion about the oceans?

Bill Ruckelshaus is undaunted. “I think holding back and doing things one at a time just doesn’t work,” he said. “You have to act while the energy is there.”

Ruckelshaus, the first administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Nixon, now chairs the Leadership Council of the Puget Sound Partnership, where he is heading the effort to reverse the degradation of our inland waterways.

President Bush created the U.S. Commission on Oceans, which probably seemed like a good idea at the time. But pulling all the environmental agencies together and getting Congress to focus on budgets, regulations and international treaties just never came to pass.

Why is Obama’s action different?

(more…)

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