Loss of seven salmon-dependant whales a wakeup call

Only days before the cinematic release of a documentary about Luna - the killer whale that captivated the public before its death in Nootka Sound in 2006 - biologists are coming to terms with the loss of seven whales from the salmon-dependent southern resident population, including Luna's mother and younger brother.

"It's significant, a serious situation," Lance Barrett-Lennard, a killer whale scientist at the Vancouver Aquarium, said in an interview Tuesday. "But I don't think it's the death knell. It's a wake-up call to think about the fate of salmon stocks and the way we run our fisheries."

A total of seven killer whales are thought to have died since last fall, reducing the population of endangered southern residents to just 83 in three pods. That's up from 71 in 1973, but down from 100 in 1996.
Two of the seven were old females past their average life expectancy - K7, Lummi, estimated to be 98, and L21, Ankh, age 58.

Two others were newborn calves - L111 and J43 - thought to have a 50-per-cent chance of survival.

Most troubling for scientists is the loss of the remaining three, especially two breeding females - Luna's mother, L67, known as Splash, age 33, and J11, Blossom, about 36.

"This is of concern," said John Ford, a whale researcher with the federal fisheries department in Nanaimo. "Those two females were in the prime of their reproductive years. They normally have high survival."

Luna's younger brother, six-year-old L101, Aurora, is also thought to be dead.

Luna was an orphaned member of the southern residents who turned up in Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island and adopted boaters as his new family. After years of controversy over what should be done with Luna, the six-year-old male whale died in a collision with a tug's propeller.

Declining runs of chinook salmon, the favourite prey of resident killer whales, are thought to be playing a role in the whales' decline in the shared waters of the Strait of Georgia and Washington's Puget Sound.

As the southern residents decline, they are also at increased risk from inbreeding, oil spills and contaminants such as PCBs, ship noise and collisions, and whale watchers.

Ford noted that not all the news is bad: the latest census suggests the population of threatened northern resident killer whales has increased to about 250 animals from 120 in the early 1970s.

Saving Luna is an award-winning documentary directed by Suzanne Chisholm and Michael Parfit that is scheduled to open in Vancouver Dec. 5 at the Ridge Theatre, in Victoria on Jan. 16 and Toronto on Jan. 23.

A special screening will be held this Sunday, 10 a.m., at the Park Theatre, 3440 Cambie, to conclude The Vancouver Sun Film Series, with both directors as well as Barrett-Lennard in attendance to answer audience questions.