Puget Sound orcas feeding in California -- again

Relocation seen as sign that state salmon stock is low


Orcas from L pod, usually seen in state waters, surfaces Sunday near Cypress Point, Calif. Their move may be because of fewer salmon in their Washington feeding area. (NANCY BLACK / MONTEREY BAY WHALE WATCH)

In what a leading orca researcher calls an ominous sign, a group of the killer whales that frequent Puget Sound and nearby waters has turned up feeding off the coast of California for the sixth winter in a row.

L pod, one of three orca families that frequent Washington waters, was spotted Sunday off Monterey Bay.

The fact that the orcas are apparently ranging farther than they once did suggests that Washington's winter stocks of chinook, the orcas' main food, have dropped too low to support them, said Ken Balcomb, a San Juan Island scientist who has studied the orcas since mid-1970s.

Now, if the orcas want to eat, "they've got to go somewhere else," said Balcomb, founder of the Center for Whale Research.

Solving the problem might require a moratorium on salmon fishing for several years, Balcomb wrote in a statement released Monday by the research center.

"The path society is on, according to fisheries experts, is that chinook stocks will be driven to extinction before the end of this century," Balcomb wrote. "We consider that ... worse news for fishermen than a few years of closure to allow stocks the best opportunity to recover."

Before about 2000, L pod and K pod turned up most years during the winter and spring, at least occasionally, in Washington waters, Balcomb said. That suggests they were hanging around in the Pacific, someplace closer than California, he said, because it's doubtful the orcas would make the eight-day trip down to California more than once a year. Bottom line: It looks like the killer whales' behavior has changed.

A recent orca-recovery plan by the National Marine Fisheries Service said until recent years, it was thought the orcas never traveled south of the Columbia River, which historically had numerous salmon.

The report also called reduced chinook numbers here a critical problem for the orcas, which are protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Brad Hanson, a biologist at the fisheries service, said Balcomb's analysis is plausible.

"Oh, certainly. There's been large changes in salmon populations over time," Hanson said. "Obviously the animals are going to respond to that. ... They're highly mobile predators."

As for the orcas' California visits, he said: "We're going to continue to take a long, hard look at this."

Balcomb referred to a controversy over whale-watching boats in Washington waters: "This may solve the 'problem' of whale watching in Washington state. They may just move down there," he said.

"California is being much more proactive in their salmon recovery and setting aside marine reserves (no-fishing zones) and looking forward to recovering salmon, whereas up here fishing interests and commercial interests get first dibs."

Puget Sound Orca Recovery Plan Released

SEATTLE (AP) — The National Marine Fisheries Service on Thursday released its recovery plan for Puget Sound's endangered killer whales, aimed at lessening the threats posed to the orcas by pollution, vessel traffic and decreased availability of food.

The goal is to enable the 88 whales in the "southern resident" population of orcas to be taken off the endangered species list by helping their numbers grow by an average of 2.3 percent per year, reaching about 155 whales in 2029. If the population reaches 113 by 2015, the whales could be listed as threatened, a less severe category under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The federal agency issued its final recovery plan for the whales after taking public comment on a draft plan issued in November 2006. At that time, the fisheries service declared much of Washington's inland marine waters as critical habitat for the orcas. The area covers about 2,500 square miles, including the waters around the San Juan Islands, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and all of Puget Sound.

Environmentalists said the plan was a move in the right direction, but said more needed to be done.

"The plan as a whole confirms that we're on the path toward extinction for orcas if we just continue with business as usual. They've done an excellent job of recording what the threats are and the status of orcas," said Heather Trim, who coordinates People for Puget Sound's orca campaign. "We would have liked to have seen more specific actions."

Trim said the plan doesn't give enough details about how many salmon are needed to feed the orcas, doesn't provide specific benchmarks for reducing toxic pollution and does not address fish hatcheries. She complimented the plan's detailed approach to oil spills and its request for permanent funding for an oil spill rescue tug at Neah Bay.

Fred Felleman, Northwest consultant for Friends of the Earth, said the final plan fixed one "gross omission" from the draft: It now recognizes the importance of working with tribal governments on orca recovery.

But he said the plan doesn't address Pacific Coast waters where the whales spend the winter and give birth to most of their calves.

The plan calls for:

_Supporting salmon restoration efforts already under way.

_Cleaning up contaminated sites in Puget Sound and reducing pollution in the region.

_Evaluating and improving guidelines for vessel traffic in and around protected areas, and minimizing underwater sound.

_Preventing oil spills and improving response plans when spills occur.

_Improving public education about how to help save the whales.

_Improving responses to sick or stranded orcas.

_Better coordination between U.S., Canadian and agencies from West Coast states.

_Continuing research to improve conservation efforts.

Research is a major component of the recovery plan and new information from ongoing scientific exploration is one of the most significant differences between this final plan and the draft, said Lynne Barre, a marine mammal specialist with NOAA fisheries and the primary author of both the draft and the final recovery plans.

"It was amazing how much new information there was in just a year," Barre said. "There is a very active research program under way."

A bill to restrict whale watching in Washington's waters was approved by the state House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday. If approved, the measure sponsored by Rep. Dave Quall, D-Mount Vernon, would prohibit whale watching boats from getting within 300 feet of an orca.

The federal government also is studying new restrictions on vessels near orcas, Barre said.

Unique in their diet, language and genetic makeup, southern resident orcas were listed as endangered in late 2005.

Once believed to have numbered 140 or more in the last century, orcas have suffered several periods of major population decline since the 1960s, when the whales were caught for aquariums. The population rebounded to 97 in the 1990s, then declined to 79 in 2001.

Killer whales are actually the world's largest variety of dolphin and can reach close to 30 feet and weigh more than 15,000 pounds at maturity.

On the Net:
Recovery Plan: http://www.nwr.noaa.gov

Since first orca capture, views have changed

To understand how orcas, also known as killer whales, moved from being feared sea creatures to celebrated marine-park performers, it helps to look back at the history of orca capture, which began in the Pacific Northwest.

It all started in 1964, when the Vancouver Aquarium commissioned a sculptor to kill an orca to use as a model for a life-size statue.

At the time, most people had never heard of a killer whale, but they did have a reputation among fishermen for stealing fish. There also were stories of orcas attacking seals, porpoises and even other whales.

Shooting an orca was generally viewed among fishermen as an acceptable response in an open-water encounter.

The Vancouver Aquarium's plan took an abrupt turn when its director decided instead to save the whale the sculptor had just harpooned. The whale was named Moby Doll, although it proved to be a male, and taken back to Vancouver. He captivated the public and became international news, though he lived only 87 days in captivity.

And thus an interest in orca captivity was born.

Ted Griffin, owner of the Seattle Marine Aquarium (not affiliated with today's Seattle Aquarium), became obsessed with the idea of exhibiting an orca after hearing of Moby Doll. By chance, a fisherman accidentally netted a whale in 1965, and Griffin was able to buy it for $8,000. Griffin would swim for hours with his whale, named Namu, and even allowed members of the public to swim in the sea pen on the Seattle waterfront.

And an interest in orca performance was born.

Griffin wanted a companion for Namu and, as part of this quest, completed the first intentional orca capture in October 1965. After a short time sharing the pen with Namu, the new whale's violent behavior made it clear they could not stay together. She was sold to Don Goldsberry of SeaWorld in San Diego and named Shamu, the first in a long succession of Shamus who have performed in that park.

Orcas had become big business.

Namu, the first orca to formally perform for the public, lived just 11 months, but Goldsberry and Griffin now had interest in orcas from aquariums around the world.

Whale capture moved to a new level with the use of boats, planes and explosives to drive the whales to shallow waters. Lolita was one of 80 orcas herded into Penn Cove on Whidbey Island on Aug. 8, 1970.

That day, six whales were captured, and five were killed in the process. According to the National Marine Fisheries Services, at least 47 southern resident orcas were killed or captured between 1965 and 1973.

Just as techniques for orca capture were being refined, public opinion on their captivity started to shift. Aquariums had raised awareness to the point that people were starting to question whether it was right to hold the whales captive.

The last capture in Puget Sound took place in 1976, and its witnesses set in motion events which ensured that none of those whales met the same fate as Lolita.

On an unusually warm Sunday morning in March, former Washington Secretary of State Ralph Munro and his wife, Karen, were sailing with friends in Budd Bay near Olympia when they passed a pod of orcas and witnessed the herding and capture of six whales by SeaWorld.

"There was a guy throwing explosives into the water," Karen Munro recalled of the efforts to herd the whales. "They were certainly big enough to create havoc for the orcas. It was a pretty violent situation."

Once they were trapped, Munro could hear the orcas' distress.

"The orcas were a pod, and they were separated from each other. They were calling to each other from inside the nets. The ones outside the nets wouldn't leave. It was quite gruesome."

The Munros alerted the media and the government, which led to action.

Within a week, SeaWorld was in court defending its right to capture whales because it had a permit. The court ruled that the use of airplanes and explosives violated the permit, and SeaWorld lost the case and all future rights to orcas in the waters of Washington state. After it also lost a subsequent appeal, the whales were released from their holding pen.

While capturing orcas is not illegal in Washington, no permits were granted after SeaWorld's attempt in Budd Bay.

Aquariums' quest for orcas, however, was far from over. It simply moved to more politically friendly waters, first to Iceland and later Japan.

Prices were escalating, as well. According to a book by Erich Hoyt, in 1979, a young orca from Iceland sold for $150,000. Prices later reached $300,000.

The last known orca capture was in Japan in 1997.

A fight for orca's freedom

Lolita's life changed on Aug. 8, 1970, when the capture nets closed in on her family of orca whales. Her days of swimming and foraging for salmon in Puget Sound ended abruptly, and she was sold to the Miami Seaquarium to live out her days as a performer.

After more than 25,000 shows, Lolita continues to be an attraction at the Seaquarium.

While Florida may be a retirement haven for people, the performing-mammal industry has no retirement plan. But Lolita has family and friends in Washington state, and those friends want to bring her home to retire.

The family is a group of 43 orcas, known as L pod, from which she was taken. Lolita continues to vocalize in her native L pod language, which orca experts say may help her to be recognized after such a long absence. Fourteen of the whales who were in the area with Lolita are still alive.

The friends are human supporters willing to pay for her return to Puget Sound and for rehabilitation they hope would lead to her release.

Most recently, actor Raul Julia-Levy has indicated an interest in putting together a group of actors, musicians and politicians to call publicly for Lolita's release. And the 1970 capture of Lolita and other orcas will be among the topics discussed at a whale conference Saturday in Coupeville on Whidbey Island. Coupeville overlooks Penn Cove, where the orcas were captured.

Efforts to bring Lolita home began in 1995, when Ken Balcomb, executive director of the Center for Whale Research, and then-Gov. Mike Lowry first called for her return.

Orca Network, a nonprofit advocacy group on Whidbey Island, offered $1 million for Lolita in 1996. Miami Seaquarium turned that down, as well as a quiet offer of $1 million-plus a few years later from the Free Willy/Keiko Foundation.

Endangered status

Lolita's family, the southern resident orcas, was listed as endangered in 2005. This distinct group of 88 whales comprises the J, K and L pods, which are referred to as the southern residents for their annual return to the waters of Puget Sound and southern British Columbia. Of the southern residents the National Marine Fisheries Services recorded as captured during the 1960s and '70s, Lolita is the only known survivor.

Miami Seaquarium says that endangered status is the best reason for Lolita to stay in her present home.

"It would be irresponsible for us to treat her life as an experiment and jeopardize her health and safety," said Carolina Perrina, public-relations coordinator for the Seaquarium, "especially given the fact that scientists have added the members of the resident community of orcas, who reside in the waters of Puget Sound, on the endangered-species list due to a distressed ecosystem.

"Lolita has learned to trust humans completely, and this long-standing behavioral trust would be dangerous for her if she were returned to Puget Sound, where commercial boat traffic and human activity are heavy."

Orcas' capture contributed to their endangered status. According to the National Marine Fisheries Service, the captures "likely depressed their population size and altered the population characteristics sufficiently to severely affect their reproduction and persistence."

Lolita was one of 80 orcas herded into Penn Cove on Whidbey Island on Aug. 8, 1970. That day, six whales were captured, and five were killed in the process. According to the National Marine Fisheries Services, at least 47 southern resident orcas were killed or captured between 1965 and 1973.

While capturing orcas is not illegal in Washington waters, no permits have been granted since San Diego's SeaWorld netted some in 1976. They were later released after SeaWorld lost a court case related to the capture.

Stardom on the wane

When Lolita arrived at Miami Seaquarium, she was just a few years old. Hugo, an orca captured from her extended family, greeted her. Lolita became a performer and earned her stage name, the Star of Miami.

Today, that star is fading. Her companion died 27 years ago, leaving this social creature alone except for three dolphins who share a tank with her that measures 80 feet across at its widest point.

Nor does Miami Seaquarium give Lolita star billing anymore. The entrance sign touts its new "dolphin encounter" program. The only postcard available features Salty the Sea Lion. Except for the hour she performs each day, Lolita, unlike the other animals, is hidden from view in her locked stadium.

If you ask Florida residents about Lolita, many have a look of distant recognition. Lifelong Miamians remember her fondly but seem surprised she is still alive. Female orcas can live 80 to 90 years in the wild, but Lolita is believed to be the oldest whale in captivity. Now an estimated 40 years old, she has grown to 20 feet long and remains in good health.

Stacy Leets, who works nearby and brought her young daughter for her first visit to the Seaquarium on a sunny day in December, expresses concern about Lolita's environment and even rethinks her decision to come to the park: "I don't know if I want to come back anymore. It kind of reminds me of the circus."

Miami Seaquarium prides itself on helping endangered species but doesn't publicly acknowledge that Lolita qualifies for this designation. The Seaquarium rescues, rehabilitates and releases manatees and sea turtles. The sea-lion show even includes a pitch for protecting the endangered conch.

"Lolita plays an important role in educating the public about the need to conserve killer whales that populate our Northwestern shores," Perrina said. "She plays a vital role in our society's understanding and appreciation of these magnificent animals."

Family matters

The work done by the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor has made the orcas that swim in Puget Sound — including Lolita's family — the most extensively studied group of whales in the world. Relying on the unique characteristics of their dorsal fins and "saddle patches" (gray markings behind the fin), each whale has been tracked and identified yearly for more than three decades.

Lolita would be set free only if contact could be established with her family. Orca Network believes the support of her family would be crucial for her survival in the wild.

For this reason, a rehabilitative pen would be placed on the west side of San Juan Island, a location the L pod passes almost daily in summer. There, Lolita would build her strength and learn to catch her own food.

Orca Network founder Howard Garrett thinks that three of the pod's matriarchs, each of whom could be Lolita's mother, would accept her and that the others would follow.

"We assume with recognition of her vocal call, she would be recognized right away. That is ascribing some pretty high abilities to them, but I think it is warranted."