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The Killing Of Our Resident Orcas
By Howard Garrett, Orca Conservancy
The recent decline in the population of southern resident Orca community
is real, but we are not killing the whales by watching them, as suggested
in an Aug. 10 opinion piece in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
The best available scientific consensus suggests that it is the decline
of salmon and toxic pollution and the ripple effects of the captures
30 years ago that are combining to negatively impact the whales. Added
stress due to boat interactions is a factor, currently being researched
by shore observations conducted by Orca Conservancy and others, but
to date the results of this and other studies of boat/whale interactions
are mixed.
An April 1 meeting of Orca researchers at the National Marine Fisheries
Service in Seattle generally agreed that the lack of salmon, compounded
by PCB contamination, are the primary cause of the 17 percent decline
in the Southern residents from 1995-99. When the whales are hungry,
the toxins that have accumulated in their blubber are released into
the blood where they can disrupt endocrine systems, leading to immune
deficiencies and reproductive problems among other potential impacts.
In addition, the removal by capture of most of the Southern residents
born between about 1961 and 1971 has taken a 10 year age cohort of females
almost entirely out of the community. Those females would now be in
their reproductive years, and their absence has contributed to the scarcity
of newborns in recent years.
Of special concern is the failure of the five females born in the 1960s
who avoided capture to reproduce successfully since 1986, possibly due
in part to the gradual buildup of toxic contamination in their bodies.
This is yet another reason why Lolita, aka Tokitae, now held captive
in Miami, should be returned to her habitat and family, to add herself
and possibly a calf or two to the community.
The situation may not be quite as alarming as some would indicate. Salmon
populations appear to be rebuilding, at least temporarily, due to regional
cooling of ocean temperatures in the Pacific Northwest, which is expected
to continue for the next few years.
Since early 1993, about 24 Orcas are known to have been born into the
Southern resident community. Of those, 19 are still alive and appear
to be healthy.
Over the past few years, whale watching companies have by and large
learned to behave responsibly around Orcas, as has most of the public.
Efforts to publicize voluntary boaters' guidelines, now being done by
the Soundwatch program, whale watch operators and many others, have
already alleviated much of the impact of boat traffic.
Increased coverage of boaters and continuing publicity throughout the
region about the need to avoid stressing the whales could remove most
of the remaining problem.
Whalewatching can help people to personally experience the grace and
mystery of Orcas. People often grow to care about the whale from seeing
how they live. The problem the Orcas face is the same on we all face,
systemic neglect of our watershed and marine habitat.
Though restoring salmon habitat is more complex than regulating boat
traffic and calls from more creative solutions, only healthy, abundant
runs of salmon will provide the sustenance the whales need if they are
to survive and continue to inhabit the inland waterways of Washington.
Howard Garrett is president
of the Orca Conservancy.
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