Center for Whale Research: February 2011

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Southern Resident Orca Population Status (With Notes On J-1)

2010 ended well for the Southern Residents. The total population as of December 31^st was 87 individuals: 27 in J pod, 19 in K pod and 41 in L pod. By the end of the year, 5 of the 6 calves born in 2010 were alive and healthy. We had one edition to J pod, J47 (calf of J17); one edition to K pod, K43 (calf of K12); and 3 in L pod, L115 (calf of L47), L116 (calf of L86), and L117 (mother unknown).

So far 2011 has been full of sightings and encounters. J’s, K’s and L87 have been seen often in Haro Strait and Puget Sound. They were first encountered by the Center on January 3^rd in Haro Strait, then again on the 7^th. J’s and K’s were also encountered in Haro Strait and San Juan Channel on the 23^rd and 26^threspectively. Residents were sighted at least once a week throughout January (eight confirmed sightings in all). February has been even better with almost daily sightings of J’s and K’s in Puget Sound (eight sightings since Feb. 20^th)

There was a possible sighting of L pod on January 15^th. Most likely the L12’s, but because of the distant photos we can’t say for sure. Ken encountered L pod spread out and foraging off Monterey Bay on February 10^th. There have been several killer whale sightings on the west coast of Oregon and California this winter, but no other southern resident sightings have been confirmed.

No new calves have yet been seen in 2011. It is still too early in the year to have an official population estimate as not all individuals have been accounted for. However, there have been several encounters and sightings of J pod where J1 has not been seen or photographed.

J1 is the oldest male in the southern resident community, estimated to be 60 years old. He is an iconic figure for the entire population and by far the most easily identifiable whale. His tall wavy fin has given him the name “Ruffles” and made him a favorite among visitors and local whale enthusiasts. He was last seen on November 21^st off Victoria.

Although there have been several encounters with J’s over the past few months, the pod configuration has been spread out and all individuals were not photographed. Although J1 is most often seen in the presence of J2, the eldest female in J pod, he is frequently sighted off on his own far away from the rest of the pod.

At this point all we can say is that J1 is officially missing. We will be keeping an eye out for him as we head into spring and encounters and sightings increase.

Posted by Erin Heydenreich

Some Background Information on the Orca Captivity Issue from Howard Garrett

"In 1965 a young male orca was captured in the town of Namu, BC. He was sold to Ted Griffin and towed in a pen to Seattle, where he was promoted extensively and made into a worldwide celebrity. Namu died after 11 months of captivity, but by then Sea World had captured their first Shamu from Puget Sound and the revenues from killer whale shows started a stampede to capture and sell orcas from Washington.

For ten years the captures were led by Don Goldsberry and Ted Griffin, who became public enemies after they tried to violently obstruct news coverage of their operations. They caught over 100 in that time, but claimed there were plenty of orcas here so the captures would make little difference on a population level. There was no science to dispute that until the mid-1970's when Canada and the US contracted with marine biologists Mike Bigg and Ken Balcomb, respectively, to conduct a survey to find out how many orcas there were in Washington and BC. They found only a few hundred, mostly north of Vancouver Island, meaning the captures had removed about a third of those resident to Washington waters.

Goldsberry, Griffin, Sea World, and the marine park industry in general disputed the scientists' findings and methods because they didn't like the results, and thus began a deep animosity toward field researchers on the part of the marine park industry. That dislike and disregard for the natural history of orcas that Bigg and Balcomb and many others revealed over the years became part of the marine park culture and continues to this day. The longevity of orcas, for example, was known from field research to be many decades longer than what marine parks told the public in their educational materials.

Needless to say, any organization that criticizes the captivity industry or that attempts to rehab, retire or release captives receives special scorn from the industry (which includes many people on Keiko's care team)."

"... and that's unfortunate because there could be some areas of agreement and cooperation if we could trust one another's information. But for those within the industry survival of the business is often more important than survival of the orcas, so rather than defend against these innuendos, unless there are disputed facts I'll try to give the background for the argument and leave it at that." From Comments by Howard Garrett

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Southern Resident Orca Population Status (With Notes On J-1)

Candace Calloway Whiting