A baby orca whale has been born in the L pod of Puget Sound orcas, whale researchers confirmed this week, but its chances of survival might not be too good.
The mother of the infant whale is believed to be a 14-year-old by the name of Calypso (L-94). If so, it would be her first calf.
The first offspring of an orca whale faces an uphill battle, compared with later births. That’s because females transfer high levels of toxic chemicals to the firstborn, both in the womb and in the mother’s milk, whale researchers say.
The Puget Sound killer whales, consisting of the J, K and L family groupings, were listed as endangered in 2005. Their population, including the newborn, was recently pegged at 86.
A year ago, seven from the families of killer whales were reported missing and presumed dead, the likely victims of a dwindling food supply and pollution. The fate of the newborn hangs in the balance.
maandag 26 oktober 2009
vrijdag 16 oktober 2009
New SR calf born: L113
A calf has been born to L pod, bumping the Southern Resident killer whale population to 86.
Center for Whale Research director Ken Balcomb said today that the calf was born sometime between Sept. 20, when the pod was last seen without a new calf, and Oct. 10, when the calf was sighted off Port Townsend.
Photographer Jami Nagel, a naturalist with Island Adventures Cruises, photographed the calf while it was traveling with L94, a 14-year-old female; and L41, a 32-year-old male.
"Until further documentation, the identity of the mother is unsure," the whale advocacy group Orca Network reported on its Web site.
The center, which maintains a census of the Southern Resident pods, has designated the calf L113.
"We are hoping the whales come back in again soon, and that this new calf survives," Orca Network reported. "If it is a first-born calf, its chances of survival are less (due to the high amount of toxins off-loaded from a new mom into her first born), and the first year of life for any orca calf can be tenuous."
The Southern Resident killer whales are on the U.S. and Canadian endangered species lists. Their population, believed to have been historically in the high 100s, was decimated by captures for marine parks, which ended in the 1970s, followed by pollution and declining salmon populations. The National Marine Fisheries Service is writing a recovery plan for the pods.
Within the last 10 years, the population dropped from 99 and has seesawed in the low- to mid-80s. Balcomb said L113 is the first Southern Resident orca calf born since J45 in February.
Center for Whale Research director Ken Balcomb said today that the calf was born sometime between Sept. 20, when the pod was last seen without a new calf, and Oct. 10, when the calf was sighted off Port Townsend.
Photographer Jami Nagel, a naturalist with Island Adventures Cruises, photographed the calf while it was traveling with L94, a 14-year-old female; and L41, a 32-year-old male.
"Until further documentation, the identity of the mother is unsure," the whale advocacy group Orca Network reported on its Web site.
The center, which maintains a census of the Southern Resident pods, has designated the calf L113.
"We are hoping the whales come back in again soon, and that this new calf survives," Orca Network reported. "If it is a first-born calf, its chances of survival are less (due to the high amount of toxins off-loaded from a new mom into her first born), and the first year of life for any orca calf can be tenuous."
The Southern Resident killer whales are on the U.S. and Canadian endangered species lists. Their population, believed to have been historically in the high 100s, was decimated by captures for marine parks, which ended in the 1970s, followed by pollution and declining salmon populations. The National Marine Fisheries Service is writing a recovery plan for the pods.
Within the last 10 years, the population dropped from 99 and has seesawed in the low- to mid-80s. Balcomb said L113 is the first Southern Resident orca calf born since J45 in February.
donderdag 15 oktober 2009
Are killer whales the culprit that's causing sea lion trouble in western Alaska?
Alaska's fisheries are once again under the gun as the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) looks at the effects of fishing on the endangered Steller sea lion (SSL). At stake are the multi-billion dollar groundfish fisheries of the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea. These fisheries are the economic engine that provides most of the jobs and revenue for coastal communities like Kodiak, Dutch Harbor, and the northern Bering Sea villages that participate in the Community Development Quota program. But new research may shed light on what is happening to Steller sea lions, and this could be good news for Alaska's fishery dependent communities.
According to recently published research out of the Alaska Sea Life Center in Seward, the endangered Steller sea lion may serve as a main course meal to some killer whales. This study seems to support the findings of the National Research Council (NRC) that killer whale predation may play a critical role in SSL recovery. Let's hope the National Marine Fisheries Service, charged with protecting sea lions and managing federal fisheries, takes this important new information into account as it completes it's assessment of current fisheries restrictions in Alaska. Called a Biological Opinion, this assessment is scheduled for release to the public in March and will impact communities throughout Alaska.
As part of a study to look at sea lion mortality, scientists at the Alaska Sea Life Center (ASLC) and Oregon State University (OSU) implanted sensors in 21 SSL in the Prince William Sound region. The transmitters were designed to release body cooling data upon death of the animal. Data recovered from four of five animals indicated rapid temperature drops likely caused by acute death at sea. The researchers concluded this was probably caused by killer whale predation. The study is scheduled for publication in the Endangered Species Journal. Co-author Markus Horning was recently quoted saying. "It could be coincidence or it could mean that predation is a much more important factor than has previously been acknowledged." In other words, killer whales may have been caught in the cookie jar.
The reason this issue is important to Alaskans is that the Endangered Species Act requires that protective action be taken even when the cause of a population decline is unknown. It's important that those protective actions are not misdirected. The endangered western stock of SSL, at more than 45,000 animals, is among the highest of all endangered species. The population has increased overall by about 14% since 2000 but recovery is uneven. Speculation remains about why this is the case, and why the population in the distant western Aleutian Islands may continue to decline. While the NRC and some marine mammal scientists believe that killer whale predation may be a factor affecting SSL trends, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has favored a hypothesis that nutritional stress, potentially caused by competition for prey with fishermen, may be impacting sea lion reproductive rates. The Steller Sea Lion Recovery Team rated both hypotheses as potentially high threats to the recovery of Steller sea lions.
Congress allocated over $80 million in research money to help unravel the mystery of the SSL decline and impediments to its recovery. Since that time much work has been produced and, though the question has not yet been answered, this recent study suggests that factors like killer whale predation may be at work. The Endangered Species Act requires that all the scientific evidence be considered. Let's hope the National Marine Fisheries Services takes a hard look at all these factors, not just the potential impact that fishermen might have on sea lions, as they conduct their review. The economic health of our fishery dependent communities depends on it.
Frank Kelty is a 38 year resident and former mayor of the Aleutian Island community of Unalaska. He is currently the President of the Marine Conservation Alliance.
According to recently published research out of the Alaska Sea Life Center in Seward, the endangered Steller sea lion may serve as a main course meal to some killer whales. This study seems to support the findings of the National Research Council (NRC) that killer whale predation may play a critical role in SSL recovery. Let's hope the National Marine Fisheries Service, charged with protecting sea lions and managing federal fisheries, takes this important new information into account as it completes it's assessment of current fisheries restrictions in Alaska. Called a Biological Opinion, this assessment is scheduled for release to the public in March and will impact communities throughout Alaska.
As part of a study to look at sea lion mortality, scientists at the Alaska Sea Life Center (ASLC) and Oregon State University (OSU) implanted sensors in 21 SSL in the Prince William Sound region. The transmitters were designed to release body cooling data upon death of the animal. Data recovered from four of five animals indicated rapid temperature drops likely caused by acute death at sea. The researchers concluded this was probably caused by killer whale predation. The study is scheduled for publication in the Endangered Species Journal. Co-author Markus Horning was recently quoted saying. "It could be coincidence or it could mean that predation is a much more important factor than has previously been acknowledged." In other words, killer whales may have been caught in the cookie jar.
The reason this issue is important to Alaskans is that the Endangered Species Act requires that protective action be taken even when the cause of a population decline is unknown. It's important that those protective actions are not misdirected. The endangered western stock of SSL, at more than 45,000 animals, is among the highest of all endangered species. The population has increased overall by about 14% since 2000 but recovery is uneven. Speculation remains about why this is the case, and why the population in the distant western Aleutian Islands may continue to decline. While the NRC and some marine mammal scientists believe that killer whale predation may be a factor affecting SSL trends, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has favored a hypothesis that nutritional stress, potentially caused by competition for prey with fishermen, may be impacting sea lion reproductive rates. The Steller Sea Lion Recovery Team rated both hypotheses as potentially high threats to the recovery of Steller sea lions.
Congress allocated over $80 million in research money to help unravel the mystery of the SSL decline and impediments to its recovery. Since that time much work has been produced and, though the question has not yet been answered, this recent study suggests that factors like killer whale predation may be at work. The Endangered Species Act requires that all the scientific evidence be considered. Let's hope the National Marine Fisheries Services takes a hard look at all these factors, not just the potential impact that fishermen might have on sea lions, as they conduct their review. The economic health of our fishery dependent communities depends on it.
Frank Kelty is a 38 year resident and former mayor of the Aleutian Island community of Unalaska. He is currently the President of the Marine Conservation Alliance.
Massive killer whale pod sighted
A massive pod of up to 50 killer whales has been filmed for the first time off the coast of Scotland by a BBC crew.
Gordon Buchanan, presenter of BBC Autumnwatch, filmed the group from a fishing boat in the North Sea.
The killer whales are filmed approaching the fishing boat and feeding on mackerel that escape the fishing nets.
The tenacious behaviour reveals an unlikely alliance between fishermen and predators of fish.
Killer whales (Orcinus orca), otherwise called orcas, live in family groups called pods and occur in British waters.
As the largest member of the dolphin family, killer whales are known for their intelligence and range of hunting behaviours.
The pod of killer whales caught on camera belong to a family group that has developed a particular hunting strategy; following mackerel fishermen and feeding on fish that escape their nets.
As the nets are brought to the surface and into the boat, the killer whales approach and come alongside, giving fishermen and the BBC Autumnwatch team a grandstand view of the pod in action.
The killer whales pick of any escaping mackerel and also feed off scraps as the nets are later lowered back into the water to be washed clean.
Fisherman's friend
Scientists first documented this behaviour in the 1980s and fishermen in Scotland have seen the behaviour develop since.
"They are pretty quick to cotton on, and it's something they are doing all around the world where there is a big fishery," says Mr Andy Foote of the University of Aberdeen, a marine scientist advising the BBC Autumnwatch team.
"But what's great about this one, is they aren't viewed as a pest, they are just going after mackerel that are stuck in the nets or escaping and they don't take any of the fishermen's catch," he says.
"They don't damage the nets or get stuck in the nets, there is a benefit for both parties and the fishermen are really fond of the killer whales."
Whale family
Pods of killer whales can include up to 200 individuals, due to the abundance of food provided by the fishing boats.
The mackerel-loving killer whales are thought to be a distinct family, unrelated to killer whales found in Shetland or others that hunt herring off Iceland.
The group follows the migration of mackerel from the Norwegian sea, past Shetland and down the west coast of Ireland and Britain possibly as far as the Portuguese coast.
The killer whales that feed on mackerel have been found to have very worn down teeth as a result of their feeding behaviour.
Scientists believe it is a result of how they suck up the fish one at a time. The suction, along with the abrasive nature of salt water, wears their teeth down.
Similarly worn teeth are also seen in other suction feeders such as sperm whales.
Gordon Buchanan presenter and cameraman on the BBC series Autumnwatch has been living aboard the working fishing boat with one other BBC colleague in an effort to capture the killer whales on film.
In his blog he tells how he was lucky to encounter the massive pod.
Gordon Buchanan, presenter of BBC Autumnwatch, filmed the group from a fishing boat in the North Sea.
The killer whales are filmed approaching the fishing boat and feeding on mackerel that escape the fishing nets.
The tenacious behaviour reveals an unlikely alliance between fishermen and predators of fish.
Killer whales (Orcinus orca), otherwise called orcas, live in family groups called pods and occur in British waters.
As the largest member of the dolphin family, killer whales are known for their intelligence and range of hunting behaviours.
The pod of killer whales caught on camera belong to a family group that has developed a particular hunting strategy; following mackerel fishermen and feeding on fish that escape their nets.
As the nets are brought to the surface and into the boat, the killer whales approach and come alongside, giving fishermen and the BBC Autumnwatch team a grandstand view of the pod in action.
The killer whales pick of any escaping mackerel and also feed off scraps as the nets are later lowered back into the water to be washed clean.
Fisherman's friend
Scientists first documented this behaviour in the 1980s and fishermen in Scotland have seen the behaviour develop since.
"They are pretty quick to cotton on, and it's something they are doing all around the world where there is a big fishery," says Mr Andy Foote of the University of Aberdeen, a marine scientist advising the BBC Autumnwatch team.
"But what's great about this one, is they aren't viewed as a pest, they are just going after mackerel that are stuck in the nets or escaping and they don't take any of the fishermen's catch," he says.
"They don't damage the nets or get stuck in the nets, there is a benefit for both parties and the fishermen are really fond of the killer whales."
Whale family
Pods of killer whales can include up to 200 individuals, due to the abundance of food provided by the fishing boats.
The mackerel-loving killer whales are thought to be a distinct family, unrelated to killer whales found in Shetland or others that hunt herring off Iceland.
The group follows the migration of mackerel from the Norwegian sea, past Shetland and down the west coast of Ireland and Britain possibly as far as the Portuguese coast.
The killer whales that feed on mackerel have been found to have very worn down teeth as a result of their feeding behaviour.
Scientists believe it is a result of how they suck up the fish one at a time. The suction, along with the abrasive nature of salt water, wears their teeth down.
Similarly worn teeth are also seen in other suction feeders such as sperm whales.
Gordon Buchanan presenter and cameraman on the BBC series Autumnwatch has been living aboard the working fishing boat with one other BBC colleague in an effort to capture the killer whales on film.
In his blog he tells how he was lucky to encounter the massive pod.
dinsdag 6 oktober 2009
Killer whales heading southLatest sighting: Pod that was in South Sound spotted off California coast
A pod of five transient killer whales that spent most of September in South Sound feeding on harbor seals was spotted Monday morning traveling south off the coast of northern California, according to marine mammal research biologists tracking their whereabouts.
The two adult females and three offspring left South Sound on Sept. 28 after first being seen here Aug. 31, based on reports to the nonprofit Orca Network.
In the past week, they traveled through the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the Washington coast, then made a beeline south, showing up near the Oregon-California border Sunday, said Brad Hanson, an ecologist at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle.
The science center is a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The transient killer whales can typically travel 75 miles per day at an average speed slightly above three miles per hour, Hanson said.
“They didn’t stall out in any one particular place on the way south,” he said.
Hanson has fairly precise data on the five orcas’ location based on a satellite tag he and fellow marine mammal researcher Robin Baird of Cascadia Research Collective in Olympia placed on one of the adult orcas during a Sept. 20 encounter near Ketron Island.
The tag transmits signals 16 hours a day, giving researchers 10 to 16 locations every 24 hours beamed back to earth from orbiting satellites.
Orca researchers have been using the tags for a little more than a year to track several groups of transient killer whales in the marine waters from Alaska to California.
The nine days of data gathered in South Sound showed the five orcas repeatedly cruising most of the South Sound inlets and bays, much to the delight of waterfront residents and boaters.
“It’s hard to say how long the tag will transmit for,” Baird said. “The longest we’ve had one on a killer whale is 94 days.”
The South Sound visit was the longest by a group of transient orcas since 2005 when six orcas stayed in Hood Canal 18 weeks.
Adult orcas can weigh up to six tons and are the relative size of a bus. Sitting at the top of the marine food chain, they have no predators.
The transient orca population is distinct from the three pods of Puget Sound killer whales, which feed on salmon and other fish and are listed as a federally endangered species. The resident population was 85 in April 2009, according to the Center for Whale Research, a Friday Harbor-based whale research group.
Dwindling food supplies, chemical contamination, human disturbances and other factors have led to their decline, scientists have said.
The two adult females and three offspring left South Sound on Sept. 28 after first being seen here Aug. 31, based on reports to the nonprofit Orca Network.
In the past week, they traveled through the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the Washington coast, then made a beeline south, showing up near the Oregon-California border Sunday, said Brad Hanson, an ecologist at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle.
The science center is a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The transient killer whales can typically travel 75 miles per day at an average speed slightly above three miles per hour, Hanson said.
“They didn’t stall out in any one particular place on the way south,” he said.
Hanson has fairly precise data on the five orcas’ location based on a satellite tag he and fellow marine mammal researcher Robin Baird of Cascadia Research Collective in Olympia placed on one of the adult orcas during a Sept. 20 encounter near Ketron Island.
The tag transmits signals 16 hours a day, giving researchers 10 to 16 locations every 24 hours beamed back to earth from orbiting satellites.
Orca researchers have been using the tags for a little more than a year to track several groups of transient killer whales in the marine waters from Alaska to California.
The nine days of data gathered in South Sound showed the five orcas repeatedly cruising most of the South Sound inlets and bays, much to the delight of waterfront residents and boaters.
“It’s hard to say how long the tag will transmit for,” Baird said. “The longest we’ve had one on a killer whale is 94 days.”
The South Sound visit was the longest by a group of transient orcas since 2005 when six orcas stayed in Hood Canal 18 weeks.
Adult orcas can weigh up to six tons and are the relative size of a bus. Sitting at the top of the marine food chain, they have no predators.
The transient orca population is distinct from the three pods of Puget Sound killer whales, which feed on salmon and other fish and are listed as a federally endangered species. The resident population was 85 in April 2009, according to the Center for Whale Research, a Friday Harbor-based whale research group.
Dwindling food supplies, chemical contamination, human disturbances and other factors have led to their decline, scientists have said.
maandag 5 oktober 2009
Are whales killing porpoises on purpose?
Natural-born killers or misunderstood mamas?
Scientists are grasping for answers to explain why southern resident killer whales--a group of fish eaters that prefers chinook salmon--have also been observed toying with harbour porpoises before leaving them dead, including two cases in the past month in Washington state and B. C.'s Strait of Georgia.
Joe Gaydos, staff scientist with the SeaDoc Society, speculated that killer whales might see the porpoises as an opportunity for a playful "cat and mouse" game--with deadly consequences.
"The thing we forget about wildlife is that they don't really have a consciousness like we have, that this is OK and this is not OK," he said from his office in Washington's San Juan Islands.
"Cats don't think, 'Oh, it's not OK to play with it (a mouse).' They just do it. That's what an animal does."
But John Ford, a whale expert with the federal Fisheries Department, said from Nanaimo, B. C., that because female killer whales tend to engage in the behaviour, it is possible they are trying to prop up the porpoises as they might their own young. The porpoises can ultimately succumb to shock, exhaustion, injury or drowning.
"It could be a maternal-driven behaviour that is misdirected towards another species," said Ford, noting southern residents seem more likely to exhibit the behaviour than northern resident killer whales.
"These animals (porpoises) are often sort of carried about on their backs or heads, pushed around. It's almost like a behaviour you'd see with a distressed or dead calf of a killer whale. We've seen a stillborn calf pushed along or carried along by the mother."
Lance Barrett-Lennard, a whale biologist with the Vancouver Aquarium, said he's observed two northern resident females trap a harbour porpoise between them in the water, and ultimately let it swim away.
Scientists are grasping for answers to explain why southern resident killer whales--a group of fish eaters that prefers chinook salmon--have also been observed toying with harbour porpoises before leaving them dead, including two cases in the past month in Washington state and B. C.'s Strait of Georgia.
Joe Gaydos, staff scientist with the SeaDoc Society, speculated that killer whales might see the porpoises as an opportunity for a playful "cat and mouse" game--with deadly consequences.
"The thing we forget about wildlife is that they don't really have a consciousness like we have, that this is OK and this is not OK," he said from his office in Washington's San Juan Islands.
"Cats don't think, 'Oh, it's not OK to play with it (a mouse).' They just do it. That's what an animal does."
But John Ford, a whale expert with the federal Fisheries Department, said from Nanaimo, B. C., that because female killer whales tend to engage in the behaviour, it is possible they are trying to prop up the porpoises as they might their own young. The porpoises can ultimately succumb to shock, exhaustion, injury or drowning.
"It could be a maternal-driven behaviour that is misdirected towards another species," said Ford, noting southern residents seem more likely to exhibit the behaviour than northern resident killer whales.
"These animals (porpoises) are often sort of carried about on their backs or heads, pushed around. It's almost like a behaviour you'd see with a distressed or dead calf of a killer whale. We've seen a stillborn calf pushed along or carried along by the mother."
Lance Barrett-Lennard, a whale biologist with the Vancouver Aquarium, said he's observed two northern resident females trap a harbour porpoise between them in the water, and ultimately let it swim away.
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