Center for Whale Research: Notification of upcoming research

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Notification of upcoming research

Starting this week, September 3rd:

The Center for Whale Research, in collaboration with the photogrammetry group from the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center, will be conducting a month-long field effort to assess the body condition, size and growth of individual southern resident killer whales, in order to assess their nutritional status. Funded by the NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center, this is a continuation of work first conducted in 2008, using a helicopter platform to obtain vertical images of whales from above in order to measure key morphometrics. Seven one-hour flights will be conducted during the month of September, to begin as early as September 3rd pending the whales' availability; the helicopter will typically operate at altitudes >1000ft, with permitted descents no lower than 750ft, and will coordinate with Center for Whale Research boats on the water to maximize coverage of different individuals. For more information contact John.Durban@noaa.gov.

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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, September 3, 2013

Notification of upcoming research

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Candace Calloway Whiting