Southern Resident Killer Whales- Nick Dockery

The World’s Largest, Scariest Dolphin

Nicholas Dockery

Southern Resident Killer Whales; Orcas

(Orcinus orca)

When you think of the signature creatures of an animal kingdom, what do you think of? Lions for the Savannas, tigers for the jungles, perhaps grizzly bears for the tundra? What about the seas and oceans? Orcinus orca, or better known as Killer Whales, are as much a mascot of the Ocean as the many sharks that dwell under the surface. They are not only beautiful mammals, but evolutionary and scientific wonders. As an apex predator of the Marine world, Killer Whales are in extreme danger and under constant threat of extinction.

Ecology

Though the name is misleading, Orcinus orca are actually members of the family Delphinidae, which includes 17-19 genera of marine dolphins. It has recently been theorized that there are multiple ecotypes of Orcas, with different patterns and behaviors, with preliminary populations situated in Antarctica, Norway, and New Zealand. We will be focusing on the status of Southern Resident Killer Whales, or SRKW, listed as endangered as of 2008. There are three communities in the region (J, K, and L), each contributing to the population of Southern Resident Whales.

Geographic and Population Change

For SRKWs, data on their population before 1974 is hard to come by, with various sources giving estimates based on sightings and little else. Starting in 1974, photo-identification has been essential to the cataloging of the community, with their data on display here;

Washington and British Columbia, 1960-2005.

Southern Residents      Northern Residents

Year           J pod         K pod       L pod        Total         Total

1960           -                 -                 -                 78              97

1961           -                  -                  -                 79              98

1962           -                 -                 -                 82              101

1963           -                  -                 -                 85              105

1964           -                  -                  -                  90               110

1965           -                 -                 -                 94              117

1966           -                  -                  -                  95               115

1967           -                  -                  -                  96               119

1968           -                 -                 -                 89              120

1969           -                  -                  -                  81               111

1970           -                 -                 -                 80              108

1971           -                  -                  -                  67               113

1972           -                 -                 -                 69              115

1973           -                  -                  -                 71               121

1974           15               16              39              70              123

1975           15               15               41              71               132

1976           16              14              40               70               131

1977           18               15              46              79              134

1978           18               15               46               79               137

1979           19               15               47               81               140

1980           19               15               49               83               147

1981           19               15               47               81               150

>>>>>>>> 

1993           21               17              59              97              197

1994           20               19               57               96               202

1995           22              18              58              98              205

1996           22               19               56              97              212

1997           21               19               52               92              220

1998           22               18               49               89               216

1999           20               17               48               85               216

2000           19               17               47               83               209

2001           20               18               43               81               201

2002           20               19              44              83              202

2003           22               20               42               84               203

2004           23               21               44              88              219

2005           24               20               44              88              -

2006           24               22               44               90              -

2007           25               19               43               87              -

This population chart shows that the population of Southern Resident whales is going down, despite an increase over the last 40 years. The locations and sightings of this community remain in the same waters, shown on the map below;

Listing Date, Type, and Cause

Listed by the Fish and Wildlife Service as Endangered in 2008, the Southern Resident Killer Whales’ populations are threatened within the Northwestern portion of North America Pacific Ocean. This is the only Killer Whales population listed as Endangered.

             

Main Threats to the Southern Resident Killer Whales

Marine mammal populations are often exposed to many forms of environmental degradation, including habitat deterioration, changes in food availability, increased exposure to pollutants, and human disturbance. All of these factors have been identified as potential threats to killer whales in Washington and British Columbia. While all could be threats, the last 40 years has done little to tell us which threats are most significant to the SRKWs. The Whale’s Habitat could be disrupted by vessel traffic, contaminants, and changes in prey availability. Salmon populations have declined in the area due to land usage, meaning the Whale’s main prey is gone. In addition to habitat degradation, they are also susceptible to overutilization for commercial and recreational purposes, due to the fact that they are popular for public display. They are also in danger of disease by pollutants affecting the immune system. A full list of considered factors is given here;

Category	Stress to the Population	Severity of population-level impacts	Uncertainty	Current Level of Concern	Mitigation Potential
Prey Reduction ·        Competition for resources ·        Ecosystem Regime Shift*	Prey availability Reproductive rate Mortality Disease Synergistic effects of threats	Potentially High	Low, based on weight of evidence on prey limitation for resident killer whales	Currently, UNKNOWN  Potentially HIGH	None, if due to natural fluctuation Moderate to High, if due to anthropogenic effects
Toxic Spills	Reproductive rate Mortality Disease	High, but is dependent on location & timing	Low, based on weight of evidence for resident killer whales	HIGH	Moderate
Chemical Contamination	Reproductive rate Mortality Disease	Moderate	Medium	MEDIUM-HIGH	Low to Moderate
Acute Noise	Displacement Stranding?	Moderate	Medium-High	MEDIUM	High
Chronic Noise	Displacement Prey availability (e.g. foraging success)	Unknown	High	LOW	Low
Physical Disturbance	Displacement	Unknown	High	NEGLIGIBLE	Moderate to High
Boat Collisions	Mortality	Unknown, dependent on vessel size & speed	High	UNKNOWN	Low
Entanglement & Entrapment	Mortality	Unknown	High	UNKNOWN	Unknown
Climate Change	Ecosystem regime shift Prey availability Disease	Unknown	High	UNKNOWN	Unknown
Biological Pollutants	Disease Reproductive rate Mortality Stranding?	Unknown	High	UNKNOWN	Low to Moderate
Naturally occurring Disease Agents*	Disease Reproductive rate Mortality Stranding?	Unknown, usually Low	High	UNKNOWN	None
Mass Stranding or Natural Entrapment*	Mortality	Has potential to impact local abundance	High	UNKNOWN	On a case-by-case basis

               

Recovery Plan

Now to the brighter Future; The Recovery Plan. The overall goal of a recovery plan is to meet the recovery criteria and address threats to allow removal from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife list. That criteria involves the population leveling out to a stable number and removal of factors that would threaten the continued existence of the SRKW. The plan details the restoration of salmon as a food source and the elimination of toxins that contribute to ill-health among the population. It also documents ways to reduce vessel disturbance and the prevention of Oil Spills. The last parts of the Recovery Plan involve developing public information and education programs, with the goal of making sure the Orca never gets listed as Endangered again, and to put more emphasis on Marine Preservation.

What can YOU do?

Now I know all of the Recovery Plan sounds very official and specific, but there are still things you can do to help! There are dozens of organizations that work to help these whales get off the Endangered list.

-Donate or  purchase items from the Center for Whale Research Orca Survey http://www.whaleresearch.com/orca-store

-Sign the Petition to support the removal of the Snake River dams, cutting off salmon from the Pacific- https://www.change.org/p/president-obama-stand-with-us-and-support-removing-the-four-lower-snake-river-dams-to-save-the-southern-resident-killer-whales-from-being-dammed-to-extinction

              Resources

              If you are so inclined, you can do even more research or follow up on mine with the entire Recovery Plan by the Fish and Wildlife Service here- http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/whale_killer.pdf

Remember; Keeping Southern Resident Killer Whales alive means keeping the Pacific alive!!!

Main Sources;

-Fish and Wildlife Recovery Plans 2008 Orcina Orca. Portland, OR: US Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 1 http://ecos.fws.gov/ecp0/pub/speciesRecovery.jsp?sort=1

-Recovery Plan for Southern Resident Killer Whales (Orcinus orca), prepared by National Marine Fisheries Service. Northwest Regional Office. Approved by John Oliver http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/whale_killer.pdf

-Information on current regulations on Southern Resident Killer Whales, Center for Whale Research. Orca Surveys and Donations http://www.whaleresearch.com/orca-population