Animal Advocates Watchdog
Missing endangered B.C. killer whales feared dead of starvation
Judith Lavoie
Canwest News Service
Saturday, October 25, 2008
VICTORIA - Seven endangered southern resident killer whales are believed to have died over the last year, leading some orca watchers to fear for the survival of the three pods that spend their time around southern Vancouver Island and Puget Sound.
The tally comes from the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbour, which had difficulty completing its count this year because the whales were unusually spread out.
If all seven have died, it brings the population to 83 and represents the biggest die-off in 10 years. The population is believed to have stood historically at about 120 and its lowest point, after decades of shooting and capture, was 71 in 1973.
"I believe they are starving," said Ken Balcomb, Center for Whale Research executive director. "They need to eat, and that means they need chinook salmon. We have to manage our wild salmon properly, and that means for the benefit of the ecosystem and natural world, rather than jobs."
Some deaths had already been reported, such as the unsurprising death of 98-year-old K7, known as Lummi. Two of the three calves born in the last year - L111 and J43 - have also died. That mortality rate is not unusual, as the survival rate for calves in the first year is 50 per cent, Balcomb said.
However, alarm signals are going up because of the presumed death of two breeding age females, including the mother of Luna, the lone killer whale which turned up in Nootka Sound and died two years ago.
Luna's mom, L67, known as Splash, was 33 years old and Luna's six-year-old brother, L101, known as Aurora, is also missing.
The other female is J11, known as Blossom, who was about 36. The final missing whale is L21, Ankh, who was 58.
"It's devastating, and all the more tragic to be losing reproductive females," Balcomb said.
Splash, before she disappeared, had a "peanut head," meaning a dip below the blowhole, which usually indicates the whale is starving.
If the chinook salmon shortage can be turned around and the whales can survive the lean years, they have a chance, Balcomb said.
"But it's going to be at least 20 years of nail-biting to see if they are going to make it."
Brad Hanson, a wildlife biologist with National Marine Fisheries Service in Seattle, said it's disconcerting to lose the breeding females.
The death rate is higher than seen recently, and it's probable that shrinking supplies of chinook are at least a contributing factor, Hanson said.
"We are getting a much better idea of which stocks are important," he said.
Hanson is studying a biopsy taken from Splash last year, when she was healthy, and another sample taken a few weeks before she disappeared.
"That might give us a better idea of what these animals are facing," he said.
Studies conclude that the major risks for the southern residents are lack of salmon, toxins in the water and disturbance from boats.
A number of environmental groups are suing the federal government for failing to protect the critical environment of the southern resident orcas and the threatened northern residents under the Species at Risk Act.
Howard Garrett of the Orca Network fears this year is the start of a downturn in the population.
"This is a drastically steep drop-off and, if the conditions don't improve, meaning more chinook, we might see this for the next few years and this population can't stand that," he said.
"It's hard to imagine they could disappear."
Victoria Times Colonist
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/story.html?id=f3e0b0e8-3336-4bcb-af10-d919a75aa00c
