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RESPONSE TO SAN JUAN ISLANDER ARTICLES |
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Reponse to The State of the Orca by Mark AndersonDear Editor, posted 02/09/04
Countless yachtsman attest to marine mammals swimmming with their boats under sail. Always exciting, sometimes frightening, these very large animals are not intimidated by sail boats under sail. They even seem to like them. Over time the whale watch industry morphs to sailboats. Oh yes they could. Tri's and Cat's are expensive, but much more stable than a wallowing powerboat. Less sick passengers, even more passengers on a cat, and dead silence. Also sail drives, that's the motorboat part of these sailboats, are also quiet. Monohulls too, cheaper and better to windward. Think of the quiet, think of the beauty of sail.....no Bud light ads please....but your own identity up there...folks learn: "See those sails, those are whale watch boats, that's where the whales are and we better stand off." It's possible. Pete Groves Dear Editor, posted 02/09/04
The bottom line is that the whales are obviously stressed for a number of reasons. That is a fact that no one can argue. We introduce undue human stresses to them, on top of their existing biological and environmental stresses. In my opinion, this shows that we, as a human society, have no respect for a population of animals that is fighting against all odds to stay alive. If people are so doubtful of the EXACT causes of their decline, the only logical thing is to start eliminating factors. Why not eliminate whale watching for a period of five or 10 years? Why not gather a group of select biologists to study the behavior of the whales in their natural environment during that time, with the stresses of whale watching taken out of the equation? Do people not realize that if we don't act immediately, there will be NO whales around to even admire in 30 years?! If the absence of whale watching proves to have absolutely no effect on the population growth of the whales, then introduce it back in. However, it should be introduced it in such a way that the whales are truly out of harm's way. I know that the whales are a major source of income for the islands. Being a small community, I certainly understand that the island depends on this yearly income, however, let's not forget about the intimate physical beauty of the islands which is what draws people there in the first place. People can still watch the whales from the land, which in my opinion, gives a much better view of the whales than on a boat, more than 200 yards away. We need to give the whales a break. We OWE it to them to give them their own space and time to let nature take its course. Are they any less important than us? I am sure that some people feel that they are. They're just whales right? I think that they are a species that needs to be looked at with utmost respect. We could never survive in their environment. We could never begin to use echolocation as a communication device. We could never swim with such power and grace. We could never traverse such wide expanses of space. We could never catch prey like they do etc. etc. etc. Wouldn't we feel different about this whole situation if they were human? Think about it. Put yourself in their place. Bonnie Breecher Dear Editor, posted 02/04/04 Two of these studies identified that whale watching has extremely serious effects on the whales both physiologically as well as acoustically, while the third research project stated that whale watching and salmon decline in combination clearly shows the highest correlation (of all factors singly and in every possible combination) to the high killer whale mortality in the last eight years. Two of the research studies have been submitted to scientific journals, while the other is being prepared for submission. Scientists from other geographical areas have also shown negative effects of whale watch boats (it does not matter whether these are commercial or private) on killer whales (for a list of published scientific articles showing negative effects of whale watching go to: www.orcarelief.org. It is worrisome that boat traffic in other areas is much less than it is in our waters, yet behavioral and physiologic changes have been shown to be very similar to the observations on our local whales. Killer whales are long-lived species, hence long-term effects will not be seen for decades. Given the fact that PCBs have been in the water for more than 50 years and that the salmon population did not suddenly crash in the mid 1990's, must lead us to look into other directions. Hence it is even more troublesome that in the last decade we have already seen and continue to see serious changes in the whales' behavior and physiology. This stands to show that even after a decade of heavy boat traffic the whales have not gotten accustomed to the disturbances. Using common sense in combination with scientific discovery points directly to the enormous increase in boat traffic around the whales and a direct correlation between increased mortality rate of the animals and the growing number of vessels. What do we do? I believe the first thing is to accept that a grave problem exists and not bury our heads in the sand hoping that the crisis will just go away. The precautionary principle must be applied: at first do no harm. We do not permit the flushing of PCB's any longer, but the already present PCB's will be around for another 75 years. Salmon recovery is in progress but it will be another 20+ years before 'real' changes in consistent recruitment of salmon will be in order. Whale watching is pushing our local population over the edge now - we must act at this time to save this population for future generations. Orca Relief is pointing to the facts, not creating conflict. As a community, we have a powerful voice to demand change. We must work toward a solution that is in the whales' best interest, which in turn is in our best interest - be it for a disturbance-free environment, clean water, or an abundance of sea life. My wish is for our children and grandchildren to have the opportunity to sit on shore, listen to the marvelous sound of powerful exhalations and being able to see our stunning orca whales pass our islands. Birgit Kriete, Ph.D. Dear Editor, I have been following the most recent debate regarding the "state of the whales" that have appeared online and in print media. And I am very dismayed and disappointed by the tactics of one group purporting to have the best interests of the whales at heart. The whale watch industry is being portrayed as a group of money-grubbing, heartless people out to make a quick buck at the expense of the whales. As I have found out first hand, this is opposite of the truth. My admiration and affinity for the whales began as a child, when I had the chance to see a whale up close and personal. I knew these were special creatures indeed. In college, I started down the road to a degree in marine biology, only to get "sidetracked" by my love of teaching children, so I dropped the marine part of my degree to get a bachelor of science in Physical Education and a minor in Biology. I then combined my love of outdoors and teaching and taught 5th grade students about outdoor education. The spark of interest in whales was rekindled when I lived in Oregon and had the chance to see Keiko during the brief relocation/re-education period. I spent time just watching this incredible whale being studied by scientist, while he seemed to study the steady stream of people watching him through the observation windows. It was during a visit to San Juan Island in 1992 that I truly experienced the joy of observing wild whales. I was down at Lime Kiln (back when we parked in the woods), and was told by everyone leaving that I was too late--the whales had already passed by. I thought I'd sit and watch anyway, and my patience was rewarded with the close pass of over 30 whales. All the way home, I thought I want to work around these wonderful creatures. When I moved here in 1997, I began working with Soundwatch. I'm amazed by the perception of some in this community that Soundwatch (and The Whale Museum) are somehow lackeys for the whale watch operators. Soundwatch exists to educate ALL boaters about proper behavior in observing marine mammals in our area. Secondary to this, but equally important were observation of boats (both private and commercial), and to report any infractions. During this time, we also maintained vessel counts, locations/direction of the whales, and other information which was passed on to scientists for evaluation. At no time during my tenure were the whale watch operators afforded any special privileges in regards to whale watch guidelines. In 2002, I took the Naturalist training course offered through the Whale Museum. The focus was not just on whales, nor were all the participants there involved with whale watching. We learned about the islands, their geology and history; we learned about the plant life both on land, in the inter-tidal zone, and in the waters of Puget Sound. We learned about the wildlife to be found above and below water. The teachers were from many disciplines, and I recommend the course to anyone with an appreciation of our local environment. Once again the flame of my desire to teach was rekindled. Finally, last year I had the opportunity to work as a Marine Naturalist aboard a commercial whale watch boat. I had the opportunity to do several things: observe the whales in a large number of varying circumstances. Secondly, I had the opportunity to pass on many of my observations of the whales, including photo records to people studying or interested in the whales. Lastly, and most importantly--I had the opportunity to teach thousands of people about whales and the marine ecosystem. With luck, most of those people went away with a greater appreciation of our natural habitat we all live in, and maybe they'll be a little more conscious of their effects on the world we live in. Many people left and made donations to The Whale Museum by "adopting" a whale. Many took information we gave them from the Monterey Bay Aquarium about enviromentally friendly fish to eat. Most did not know about PCBs, and their effect on marine environments. They weren't aware of the state of decline of many species of fish due to over-fishing. Nor were they aware of some of the hazards of some types of farmed fish. We taught about conservation, interdependency, as well as history of the islands, history of the whales, how to identify whales, population increases and decreases, and the theories behind the current decline. We even gave people the opportunity to not only visually observe the whales, but to listen on the hydrophone to the orcas. We taught the differences between echolocation sounds and communication sounds. The vast majority of people I have encountered who are in the whale watch industry, or scientists studying the orcas, or just concerned people in our community are genuinely conscientious people. Their love for the environment and the whales is inspiring. The only thing I can say about EVERY ONE of these people is that they want the whales to not just survive, but THRIVE! The most critical thing we can all do is to work TOGETHER to figure out what we can do to encourage the whales survival. By fostering an air of cooperation instead of antagonism, we can promote the free exchange of information, ideas, as well as guidelines. I hope that this will come to pass. And if this letter opens the mind of or educates one reader, then my letter will have served its purpose. John Boyd Dear Editor, posted 01/29/04 The effect of boat traffic on whales is one of the issues that needs to be widely understood and remedied. The worst offenders of possible "whale harassment" are not commercial whale watch boats, but private recreational boaters who are uneducated about whale watching etiquette and the required speeds and distances for the safe viewing of whales. If Orca Relief is concerned about the effects of boats on whales, why are their efforts targeted solely at commercial whale watch boats? It seems their time and money would be much better spent on programs that educate the general boating public about how to behave around whales. All boat owners and operators should learn to behave respectfully around whales, as described in the Be Whale Wise program developed by Soundwatch. Laws are only marginally effective in such a fluid situation that includes unpredictable whale movements, so education and awareness are essential for overall good behavior. Many groups, agencies and individuals are devoted to solving all these complex habitat issues. In this op-ed, it is stated: "we were the first to predict the decline." Yet Orca Relief was not the first to predict the decline of the orcas. A variety of individuals and organizations saw it coming as prey stocks went into steep decline in the early 90's. The Orca Relief website says: "Orca Relief is the ONLY organization in the past five years that has conducted research to understand why the Orca whales are dying." However, the National Marine Fisheries Service, WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, the Center for Biological Diversity, and People for Puget Sound, among many others, have studied the issue at great length. Actually Orca Relief has not so much studied the problem as it has predetermined a conclusion (whale watch boats kill whales), then funded shallow papers that came to vague conclusions, then extracted points out of their context and misrepresented them to announce the predetermined conclusion. This is not how empirical science is supposed to operate. For example, Dr. Glenn VanBlaricom did not agree with Orca Relief by "concluding that boat traffic was a significant contributor to orca death." This unpublished paper, paid for by Orca Relief, found a statistical correlation of orca deaths with salmon depletion and boat traffic, not a cause and effect relationship. Orca Relief seems to have confused correlation with causation. One could probably also find a correlation between housing construction on San Juan Island and orca deaths, but assuming causation would be a stretch, although increased pesticide and petroleum runoff, and other chemicals, are not inconsequential to the health of the orcas. VanBlaricom had no comment about contaminants because of "the absence of a time series of data." It is inexplicable to claim that "scientists in the U.S. and Canada have learned a great deal about the effects of boats on orcas, and ALL of it is negative." The truth is that virtually all such studies have been inconclusive in terms of long-term adverse effects. Comforting absolutes are not possible, but there is almost no actual data that yields the conclusion that boat traffic actually harms orcas. Despite the fact that a wide range of government agencies and environmental groups are deeply concerned with the precarious health of the orcas, and many workshops and studies have been conducted to find the answers, almost no agency, group or individual has singled out boat traffic as the most significant problem, except Orca Relief. Especially troubling is the statement: "Among scientists who do not take money from the whale watching industry, this is now an essentially unanimous opinion." There must be some good evidence to support this serious charge. To be true, it would mean that the assembled scientific expertise of the National Marine Fisheries Service, the WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, the Canadian Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans, People for Puget Sound, The Center for Biological Diversity, Orca Network and some of the most respected and experienced orca field researchers on San Juan Island have taken bribes from the whale watch industry and agreed to falsify their research and judgements about boat/whale interactions. Can that be? We believe Orca Relief is doing a disservice to the whales by creating unecessary conflict and by distracting needed attention from the complex and difficult, but real, issues impacting orcas - primarily salmon depletion and toxic pollution, as well as many kinds of noise pollution. We need an atmosphere of trust and common purpose to inform one other and arrive at ways to protect and restore the whales' habitat. We recommend the discussion of the factors impacting the Southern Resident community in the draft Washington State Status Report for the Killer Whale, dated November 2003, on the WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Web site , which states:
We believe in the precautionary principle, and are pleased that the Whale Watch Operators Association has been proactively developing and revising Whale Watch Guidelines in conjunction with NMFS, Soundwatch, DFO and others who are interested in constructively looking at this issue. Howard Garrett and Susan Berta Reponse to The State of the Orca by Mark AndersonDear Editor, posted 01/28/04 I also agree with Averna that it’s a good thing that whale watch operators aren’t shooting the whales. I’m glad we no longer allow people to capture them and put them in Disneyesque sea museums. And I’m glad that we abolished slavery and "gave" women the vote. As a society, we constantly evolve. Hopefully, we learn from our mistakes and strive to improve. It probably didn’t seem like a bad idea some twenty years ago when the first of the whale watch operators started up. People were curious about "killer whales." What possible harm could there be in taking people out in a few boats to see the whales, especially during high season? Now however, we’ve got a situation where the whales are followed constantly, the number of whale watching boats has exploded and continues to grow, and we’ve developed a tourist industry marketing machine that promotes whale watching as the "must do" island activity. And meanwhile the whales are dying and we don’t fully understand why. We do know that Orca respiration rates go up in the presence of boats, which means the whales have to work harder and eat more to maintain body weight. We also know that the whales are extremely social and "talk" to one another, which likely means that constant boat noise is not a good thing. As Averna says, people have been studying the whales for years and don’t have definitive answers. Definitive answers might take decades. Most people don’t think the whales have that much time. The State of Washington wants to classify the Southern Residents as endangered, and the Federal Government has been directed to reconsider giving them an ESA listing by a judge who thinks they are "significant" and worthy of protection. Those of us who want to help the whales and who support Orca Relief are convinced that, in the words of the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, we need to take a "precautionary approach." This means addressing the combined threats the whales face (toxins, reliable food supply, boat noise) in parallel and not waiting until the whales are dead or all the reports are written to take common sense steps that will give the Southern Residents their best chance for survival. Monica Harrington Dear Editor, posted 01/26/04 The leaders of Orca Relief are concerned people who are very passionate about the whales' well being. That is a good thing. This tactic on the part of Orca Relief takes the attention and focus away from the real cause of the whales decline, the decline in the salmon stocks in Washington and ocean waters along with the high concentrations of toxic chemicals in the water column. As a commercial whale watch operator, I will and have stood behind real science. The fact that there are three maybe more reasons the whales might be in trouble; Lack of salmon, pollutants and boat traffic. At this point lots of research is being performed to find out if boat traffic is a problem or even a small problem that might exasperate the other stronger and more pronounced issues. With years of research done by real experts in the field we are still not any closer to knowing if boats are causing a problem. The folks at Orca Relief have decided to focus their attention on boats, I think because boats are the easiest target and one in which they can gain their financial goals and instant gratification. If they would see the big picture, perhaps they could help in the recovery of salmon stocks, the lessening of pollutants (such as the recent oil spill in Edmonds), and working with hard working groups like Soundwatch to create a boater education program. To ease the situation with boats around whales, most operators of whale watch boats are taking a cautious approach to minimize our contact with the whales. For example, this year I will burn biodiesel instead of regular diesel, as well as other operators where the fuel is available. The price of biodiesel per gallon is significantly higher but worth the cost. I am having our boat's engine noise recorded to determine the level of underwater noise. Because my engine's exhaust is above the waterline, most of the engine noise is above, not below the water surface. Every year the operators of whale watch boats from the United States and Canada get together and modify their operating guidelines to conform to the latest credible science. Our guidelines are more stringent than federal guidelines. The operators are not a bunch of uncaring people only out to make money off the whales. Some are researchers, some have been working with the whales for years while others work on the boats as professional captains. All are extensively trained in the operation of a boat around marine mammals. None of the operators are careless. Doesn't Orca Relief see the need for us as operators to put the whales first and foremost? The whale watch industry has grown, no doubt about that. But with the growth has been a better understanding of the whales and how to operate around them causing the least interference as possibe. I would invite anyone who signed Orca Relief's petition or who agree with their unfounded statements to come along with me on my boat as my guest, see the whales from the boat and gain a better understanding of the complete cooperation between boat operators putting the whales first, and the respect shown towards the whales. Listen to the constant chatter on the radio as operators work with each other to minimize risk and the potential for an accidental close encounter with the whales. If you look back at the history of the San Juan Islands, the whales experienced even more boat traffic around them than today. In the 20's and 30s there were hundreds of gill-netters with nets out on the west side, day after day. You knew where the whales were by the gunshots from boat to boat. In the 60s they were being captured and orca families were torn apart. We're not out there shooting or trying to capture the whales. In fact, we feel we are the first line of defense against a private boat operator who might get to close or is blatantly disturbing the whales for the sake of a closer photograph. Most of us are hoping the whales will be put on the endangered species list if only to help the whales. But maybe the whales don't need help from us. What if their decline was a natural occurrence? If you look at population charts dating back to the 1920s there have been dips in the population. We had a major El Nino here in the late 90s. With this El Nino came warmer ocean water that played havoc and decimated the salmon runs. Predicted amounts of salmon never materialized. That is also when we experienced the beginning of a marked decline in the orca population. Now with the ocean temperatures getting back to normal, the resident orca are in a population rebound and gaining in numbers again. I don't even want to get into the problem with pollutants such as PCBs. Ask credible researchers and they will tell you the amount of PCBs in the whales is as high or higher than any other marine mammal in the world. Lastly, an argument can be made regarding the pod of resident orca that are on the decline. It is a fact that the pod seen around the islands the most year round, J pod is the pod that seems to be stable if not growing in numbers. The pod we see the least of, L pod is declining the most. L pod spends most of the fall, winter and spring out in the ocean where boat encounters are relatively rare. J pod goes down to Seattle and Tacoma this time of year. It is my hope that the whale watch industry, researchers, local and federal government and islanders can work together to come up with a plan that will ensure the continued well being of the orca as well as all of the marine mammals around these islands. Keep in mind that it is not only the orca whales that should be of concern regarding their health and well being, minke whales, other marine mammals and a variety of sea birds are also on the decline. Tom Averna |
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