CENTER FOR WHALE RESEARCH
Related Stories
Female orca dies on Sequim beach
posted 01/03/02
A female killer whale died on a beach in Dungeness Spit Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2002. Rescue workers were able to free a male whale who was beached in the same area. Kelley Balcomb-Bartok of the Center for Whale Research was on the scene and in an interview on King 5 News said he believes the male is related to the female and is in mourning.
The whales are believed to be transient whales and not members of the three local pods. Link to KING 5 News...
Seven orcas missing from resident pods
posted 06/17/01
Six whales from J-Pod and one from K-Pod are missing according to a report by The Center for Whale Research. The whales are part of the Southern Community Orca population which returns to the San Juan Islands for the summer.
After several weeks of careful observation of the southern resident killer whale pods in and around the San Juan Islands, the Center for Whale Research has confirmed seven whales are missing from the population.
For the 26th year, the Center for Whale Research is documenting the pods of killer whales that frequent the inland waters of Washington State and southern British Columbia. Maintaining both a photographic catalog of every individual as well as social structure of the entire population, staff at the Center noticed the missing animals as the pods returned to the San Juan Islands last month.
L-pod, the largest of the three resident pods, first arrived in the San Juan Islands May 20 whereupon staff members with the Center began a detailed inventory of the returning animals. Upon closer inspection, several individuals were notably absent, and after several encounters in the following weeks six whales have now been regarded as missing. K-pod also returned to the region May 20th, and while one new calf (K-33) has been observed, a calf born in November did not survive the winter, bringing the total number of animals missing to seven.
The missing animals include:
- L-1 (adult male / born ~1959 / one surviving sister L-54)
- L-11 (adult female / born 1957 / mother of five offspring - 3 surviving)
- L-39 (adult male / born 1975 / mother L-2 and 3 younger siblings survive)
- L-62 (adult male / born 1980 / mother L-27 survives, 3 younger siblings deceased)
- L-98* (calf born 1999 / mother L-67 survives)
- L-99* (calf born 2000 / mother L-47 and 2 older siblings survive)
- K-32 (calf born 2000 / mother K-16 survives)
Orcas Population
1976-2001
| 1976 | 71 |
| 1977 | 79 |
| 1978 | 79 |
| 1979 | 81 |
| 1980 | 83 |
| 1981 | 81 |
| 1982 | 78 |
| 1983 | 76 |
| 1984 | 74 |
| 1985 | 77 |
| 1986 | 81 |
| 1987 | 84 |
| 1988 | 85 |
| 1989 | 85 |
| 1990 | 89 |
| 1991 | 92 |
| 1992 | 92 |
| 1993 | 97 |
| 1994 | 96 |
| 1995 | 99 |
| 1996 | 97 |
| 1997 | 92 |
| 1998 | 89 |
| 1999 | 85 |
| 2000 | 82 |
| 2001 | 78 |
New calves born this year include:
- J-37 (calf born to J-14, her third)
- K-33 (calf born to K-22, her first).
With the absence of seven individuals and the addition of two calves, the total population numbers for the southern community is 78, with L-pod now at 41, K-pod at 17, and J-pod at 20. When research began on these pods in 1976, there were 71 whales total; the population peaked at 99 whales in 1995 while there has been a precipitous decline since that time.
Factors that may play a role in the population decline include:
- The southern community killer whale pods were captured on 13 separate occasions in the Puget Sound area between 1965 and 1976 with 36 reported whales taken for aquariums throughout the world.
- In recent years many salmon stocks have been dramatically reduced to dangerously low levels, with several species recently listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
- High levels of Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins (PBTs) including Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) have been found in samples taken from recovered bodies of several members of the J and L-pods.
- In the past ten years there has been a dramatic increase in the number of whale watching vessels following the whales, which may add stress on already weakened individuals in times of duress.
This data was collected by the Center for Whale Research.
Astrid van Ginneken, Co-Principal Investigator, Center for Whale Research 360-378-5835
This data was collected by the Center for Whale Research.360-378-3557
Sharon Kivisto
and
Matt Pranger
can be reached:
phone:
360.378.3748
fax:
360.378.9748
by e-mail:
news@sanjuanislander.com
by mail:
San Juan Islander
PO Box 1118
Friday Harbor, WA 98250 USA