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Index of stories about orcas (killer whales) in the San Juan Islands

Second J-Pod whale feared dead

Whale researchers believe another orca from J-Pod is probably dead. The female, J-10, called Tahoma in the museum's adoption program has not been seen with the rest of her family yet this year. If she is dead, she'll be third whale of her six-member subpod to die in two years.

"There's no mistaking, she's not there," said researcher Jody Smith, who recently inventoried J-Pod.

J-10's son, J-18, died two weeks ago and his toxin-laden body washed up on a beach near Tsawwassen, British Columbia. Another of J-10's offspring, the adult male J-20, died in 1998. J pod has only one breeding male, J1 also known as Ruffles, left.

Researchers were concerned J-20's calf J-32 might also have perished this winter since J-18 had been caring for the calf. However, J-32 was seen with the rest of J-Pod.

Toxins suspected in death of local whale

PCBs may be linked to the death of a local orca that washed onto a Tsawwassen, British Columbia beach last weekend.

Canadian biologists found high levels of PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyls) in the whale, J-18. PCBs, now banned, may inhibit animals immune systems, making them susceptible to harmful bacteria and viruses. The exact cause of J-18's death has not been determined. A necropsy is being performed on the 21-foot, 4.5-ton orca, nicknamed "Everett."

The significant levels of PCBs is not a surprise to Peter Ross, a researcher with Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans who has conducted a tissue survey of orcas. "They now represent the most contaminated marine mammals in the world," Ross told the Vancouver Sun on Sunday.

Researchers have suspected PCBs and other toxins are causing a decline in resident orcas of the San Juan Islands and Southern British Columbia. The population of those pods -- J, K and L -- has dropped from 98 to 82 over the last four years.

How many orcas were killed in the past?

Researchers at The Whale Museum are trying to determine the size of the killer whale population prior to 1963. The information will be used to help determine if the orcas should be added to the Endangered Species List.

Witnesses of orcas being shot or killed in Puget Sound or in the Strait of Georgia before 1963 are asked to contact Dr. Richard Osborne, science curator at The Whale Museum in Friday Harbor. He can be reached by calling the toll-free number 800-946-7227, ext. 26; or e-mail: whale@rockisland.com or write to him at the museum at P.O. Box 945, Friday Harbor, WA 98250. Requests for anonymity will be respected.

The orca population, known as the Southern Resident Community (comprised of J, K and L pods) was listed last year as threatened by the Canadian government, and some researchers say it should also be added to the U. S. Endangered Species list. They cite reduced salmon runs (the orcas' primary food source) and high levels of toxins in the whales' blubber as primary reasons the orcas need extra protection. Another concern is the small size of the whales' population.

Between 1974, when the Southern Residents were first studied, and 1995 the population grew until it reached 98 individuals. However, since 1996 it has shown a steady decline, with a current population of only 82 whales.

Osborne says that some scientists believe 100 may be the natural maximum for this population, which corresponds to their estimated size before the 1960s when at least 48 whales were either killed or captured from the three pods for public display. However, other researchers suspect that the original population was much more than 100 because of documentation that shows some orcas were killed in military target practices and through government-sanctioned "culling" by salmon fishers.

"If the original size of the population was about 100 individuals," says Osborne, "the currently declining population of 82 is still within the range of normal fluctuations that might be expected in a stable population. But if their normal population size is more like 200 to 300, similar to the Northern Resident Community of 215 orcas that inhabit Johnstone Strait and the central British Columbia coast, then the current population of the Southern Residents is alarmingly low."

Osborne notes that human killings of orcas are recorded in historical documents from the 1850s to the 1930s. "From the early days of European settlement until the 1960s, the most honorable thing a person could do was to rid the world of these predators." He has interviewed commercial fishers who recalled "it was always possible to know when the killer whales were coming through the gillnet fleet in Haro Strait by listening to the sounds of gunfire."

The highest levels of lethal human attacks, he says, probably occurred in the 1940s, when killer whales traveling in the Strait of Georgia were used as military targets. "Under these circumstances it's possible that whole pods may have been eliminated as a result of repeated strafing runs in a single target practice session."

Osborne says that shootings continued into the 1960s, as confirmed by people involved in capturing orcas for marine parks; they reported that up to 25 percent of the captured whales carried scars from recent bullet wounds.

"What we need is for people who witnessed these attacks to come forward with their stories so we can piece together how large the historical population was, and thus, how depleted the present population really is,"Osborne says.