Category Archives: Uncategorized

Killer whales call louder as vessel noise increases

Posted on December 11, 2008 by | 1 Comment
This clipping from the NOAA/NWFSC Marine Mammal Program shows that southern residents are increasing the source level of their S1 calls by about 1dB for every decibel increase of the ambient noise level. Counts of vessels within 1km of the hydrophone correlate with the ambient noise levels.

While the ecological consequences of this behavioral change are up for debate and further study, these results could motivate owners of vessels that operate near the whales to reduce their underwater noise production. They could also lead to the development of new regulations regarding how vessels interact with the endangered killer whales.

The peer-reviewed article is expected to be published in the next couple months. Similar results have been acquired by a Beam Reach student in fall 2007 (Elise Chapman, http://beamreach.org/071 ) and by Val Veirs in spring 2005 ( http://beamreach.org/research/projects/orca_call_sl/ValVeirs_ASA_May05_talk.ppt ).

clipped from www.nwfsc.noaa.gov

NOAA logo: go to NOAA web site

NWFSC home

Marine Mammal Program

Speaking up: killer whales compensate for vessel noise

A photograph of a woman looking at a group of killer whale from a boat.
NWFSC postdoctoral researcher Marla Holt measuring the sound levels of killer whale
calls near San Juan Island.

A study by NRC postdoctoral researcher, Dr. Marla Holt, and collaborators including NWFSC, Colorado College and Beamreach researchers have found that Southern Residents compensate for the masking effects of vessel noise by calling louder. In a new article (in press) in JASA Express Letters, “Speaking up: killer whales compensate for vessel noise,” these researchers show that whales increase their call level by one decibel for every decibel increase in background noise levels.
The researchers also report that noise levels increase as the number of motorized vessels around the whales increases, illustrating the contribution vessel traffic has to background noise levels in the whales’ underwater environment.
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Blackmouth and blackfish in Seattle

Posted on December 11, 2008 by | Leave a comment

J, K, and members of L pod have been down in central and south Puget Sound quite a bit thus far this November and December.  The nice sighting maps at Orca Network show they’ve been sighted as far south as Seattle and Vashon on 12/2 and 12/7.  In comparison, here are the days in past Decembers when SRKWs were detected near Vashon Island: 0 days 2007,  2006;  12/15, 12/17, & 12/20 in 2006; 12/2 &12/16 in 2005;  11 days in 2004 (as late as 12/31); and 7 days in 2003.  They came into northern Puget Sound 8 times in November (Admiralty Inlet down to about the southern end of Whidbey Island), which is about normal compared with November ’06 and ’07.

Will they keep hanging around this fall?  And what are they eating?  It will be fascinating to learn what is revealed by the fecal and prey sampling that NOAA has accomplished in Puget Sound recently…

The following note from WDFW suggests they could be picking off some of the blackmouth Chinook that human fishers are catching.  Does anyone have handy some near-real-time escapement numbers for Chum in the southern Puget Sound rivers?

Excerpt from the WDFW Weekender Report: December 10, 2008 – January 6, 2009:

On Puget Sound, the blackmouth  fishery is under way, and the catch rate could increase as additional marine areas open for salmon.

“We’ve seen a drop in effort in the marine areas since the holiday season began,” said Steve Thiesfeld, WDFW fish biologist. “But those anglers who did get out on the water have found some fish in the last several days.” Creel checks in the region show fair fishing for blackmouth – resident chinook – in Marine Area 10 (Seattle/Bremerton). At Shilshole Ramp, 26 anglers were checked with two chinook Dec. 5, while 48 anglers took home eight chinook the following day.

Those fishing Marine Area 10 can keep two hatchery chinook as part of their two-salmon daily limit. They must, however, release wild chinook, which have an intact adipose fin.

Beginning Jan. 1, options will increase for blackmouth fishing, when marine areas 8-1 (Deception Pass, Hope Island and Skagit Bay) and 8-2 (Port Susan and Port Gardner) open for salmon. Anglers in those two marine areas will be allowed to keep two hatchery chinook as part of their two-salmon daily limit.

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Chinook swim bladder smaller than sockeye & coho?

Posted on December 9, 2008 by | Leave a comment
clipped from sciencenow.sciencemag.org

Sounds Like My Favorite Fish

By Phil Berardelli
ScienceNOW Daily News
12 November 2008
Some of the killer whales off the coast of Washington state are picky eaters, preferring Chinook salmon even though the coho and sockeye varieties are much more plentiful. Researchers report that the whales seem to be able to tell the three species apart by the sonar echoes bouncing off their swim bladders
Their analysis showed that one characteristic–the structure of the echoing sound waves–differed among the coho, sockeye, and Chinook salmon. As bioacoustician and team member Whitlow Au of the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, reported Tuesday at a meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in Miami, Florida, further study showed that the salmon swim bladders vary considerably in size. The Chinook’s bladder is only half as large as those of the other two species.
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BC salmon worse off than DFO says

Posted on December 3, 2008 by | Leave a comment
We’ll need to examine the actual publication, but at first glance this new study demolishes what trust I had that DFO was doing a reasonable job of measuring escapement and managing the catch of B.C. salmon. It seems we should radically adjust how we monitor and manage salmon… perhaps some combination of a coherent, timely test catch program and real-time telemetry of returning adults could enable us to adjust quotas and time openings so that enough salmon are able to make it into the rivers and the stomachs of endangered orcas.

Or maybe we should just stop fishing for Pacific salmon for a decade?! Then at least we could discern whether there is any need to keep suggesting that declines are caused by climate change or ocean conditions, rather than harvest.
clipped from www.theglobeandmail.com

Overfishing pushing salmon stocks near collapse, study warns


MARK HUME

December 3, 2008 at 5:13 AM EST

VANCOUVER — Salmon stocks in British Columbia are on the brink of collapse largely because the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans has consistently allowed too many fish to be killed in commercial and recreational fisheries, according to a new research paper.

The researchers said that based on the monitoring of 137 streams between 2000 and 2005, DFO found 35 per cent of salmon runs in northern B.C. were classified as depressed. But an assessment based on 215 streams that included weak stocks rated 75 per cent of runs as depressed.

“The lack of information [fisheries managers have] is troubling,” said Misty MacDuffee, one of three biologists on the research team.

And during the 2000-2005 period, chum, sockeye and chinook runs failed to hit escapement targets up to 85 per cent of the time.
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OR salmon threatened by increased logging

Posted on December 3, 2008 by | Leave a comment
The tough balance between logging and fishing continues along the Oregon coast. Killer whales aren’t even on the distant radar in this article…
clipped from www.oregonlive.com
Coastal salmon at center of forest debate

by Michael Milstein, The Oregonian
Tuesday December 02, 2008, 8:32 PM

TILLAMOOK — Five rivers pour into Tillamook Bay, and together they are among Oregon’s most important coastal rivers for salmon and steelhead. This is one of a few places where six different fish stocks return each year from the sea.

But the same rivers pour off state forestland that may soon face accelerated logging to provide struggling coastal counties with more timber revenue.

Although Tillamook’s salmon and steelhead have declined since early in the century from factors ranging from commercial fishing to land development, they remain some of the strongest on the coast. The fish are pushing their way up rivers to spawn now.

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Interim WDFW Director heads North of Falcon process

Posted on December 2, 2008 by | 1 Comment
I’ve been wondering who herds the cats during the North of Falcon process. We orca advocates should start understanding and interacting with the process, ultimately so that the southern residents have a place at the table!
clipped from wdfw.wa.gov
December 01, 2008

Fish and Wildlife Commission
appoints interim WDFW director
OLYMPIA—In a special meeting today, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission voted to accept the resignation of Jeffrey P. Koenings, Ph.D., from his position as director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), effective Dec. 11, and appointed Phil Anderson as interim department director.
Anderson has been the department’s deputy director for resource policy since July 2007. Anderson also serves as the department’s representative to the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC). In that role, Anderson heads up the North of Falcon process, which sets annual salmon-fishing seasons for marine waters including Puget Sound and the coast. Anderson is a resident of Westport who joined the WDFW staff in 1994.
The commission, a citizen body appointed by the governor, will begin a nation-wide search for a permanent WDFW director in 2009, according to Jerry Gutzwiler, commission chair.
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Out-going WDFW Director helped WA Chinook

Posted on December 2, 2008 by | Leave a comment
While the new Treaty will almost surely be good for the southern residents, I remain uncertain about whether releasing wild salmon really works when they’re caught during openings that target hatchery fish.

“Under Koenings’ leadership, WDFW established many new sustainable fisheries that allow harvest of hatchery-produced fish while sparing wild salmon listed for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. He also led the department’s participation in a broad effort to reform state hatchery operations to support wild-fish recovery.”
clipped from wdfw.wa.gov
December 01, 2008

WDFW director resigns to pursue new challenges
OLYMPIA— After a decade of leadership in fostering scientific and collaborative management of state natural resources, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Director Jeff Koenings, Ph.D., has announced his resignation, effective Dec. 11.
Most recently, Koenings chaired negotiations on a new, 10-year chinook-harvest agreement under the Pacific Salmon Treaty, requiring British Columbia and Alaska to reduce harvest of Washington chinook by a million fish over the next 10 years. When implemented in 2009, the agreement will return many more wild salmon to state spawning grounds to take advantage of numerous estuary and freshwater habitat-restoration projects throughout the state.
Koenings’ 10-year career as WDFW director was the longest in the department’s history.
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Seven killer whales disappear from B.C.’s south coast

Posted on November 29, 2008 by | Leave a comment
This article has a nice synopsis of the lost animals, their ages, names, and demographic significance…
clipped from www.canada.com

Larry Pynn,
Vancouver Sun
Published: Tuesday, November 25, 2008

A total of seven killer whales are thought to have died since last fall, reducing the population of endangered southern residents to just 83 in three pods. That’s up from 71 in 1973, but down from 100 in 1996.

Two of the seven were old females past their average life expectancy – K7, Lummi, estimated to be 98, and L21, Ankh, age 58.

Most troubling for scientists is the loss of the remaining three, especially two breeding females – Luna’s mother, L67, known as Splash, age 33, and J11, Blossom, about 36.

Two others were newborn calves – L111 and J43 – thought to have a 50-per-cent chance of survival.

Luna’s younger brother, six-year-old L101, Aurora, is also thought to be dead.

“This is of concern,” said John Ford, a whale researcher with the federal fisheries department in Nanaimo. “Those two females were in the prime of their reproductive years. They normally have high survival.”
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Orcas to come up empty mouthed in CA?

Posted on November 20, 2008 by | Leave a comment
The southern residents typically migrate all the way down to California’s Monterey Bay, often arriving there in January.  The presumably feed on salmon returning to or departing WA, OR, and CA rivers.   Below is an interesting article — in part because  members of all three pods have been sighted in the Salish Sea multiple times this November.  It is becoming past the time of year when L and K pods have typically departed for points unknown west of Cape Flattery.  Ken is putting up posters along the outer coast in preparation for their transit southward.  At what point in the decline of CA salmon will the orcas discern that it is no longer worth the trek to Monterey?

This article also speaks volumes about an issue that has been focusing my attention recently: no one in the killer whale and salmon communities in the Pacific Northwest seems to be talking to each other, nor is there open discussion of the “big picture orca/salmon.”   It’s fascinating that the same lack of perspective has persisted in California salmon science. There are heroes akin to Moyle up here — scientists who think at the right integrative level and speak for the endangered species — like Fred “It’s the ecosystem, stupid” Felleman and Ken Balcomb — check out his most recent MASTERFUL synopsis of the orca population trends and salmon abundance.  But we need much, much more of that.  It all makes me wonder whether WDFW/DFO will end up getting a slap on the wrist like the one CA Fish and Game may get.

clipped from www.contracostatimes.com

Expert sends out SOS for California’s fish

Posted: 11/19/2008 12:25:03 PM PST

Two-thirds of California’s native salmon, trout and steelhead are headed for extinction unless major changes are made to the way the state’s rivers are managed and protected, according to a report by one of the state’s top fish experts.
“I was surprised that nobody has done an overview of what’s happening to California trout and salmon. Nobody was looking at the big picture,” Moyle said.
Still, Moyle said the breadth of the problem was escaping notice because biologists all were focused on problems with the particular species and rivers in which they were interested.
“You always had the feeling that somewhere there were good populations,” Moyle said. “Things were much worse off collectively than I thought they were.”
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An example of NMFS restricting pesticide use in Oregon

Posted on November 19, 2008 by | Leave a comment
Has this been done in Washington State already?
clipped from www.oregonlive.com

Restrictions placed on three pesticides deemed harmful to fish

by Michael Milstein, The Oregonian

Tuesday November 18, 2008, 9:07 PM
Federal fisheries biologists today, concluding that three pesticides used throughout the Willamette Valley harm imperiled salmon, ordered sharp new restrictions on use of the chemical compounds.
The pesticides — chloropyrifos, diazinon and malathion — are among the 60 most used in Oregon, with hundreds of thousands of pounds combined spread throughout the state each year.
Lethal pulses of pesticides wash into streams during storms, said Jim Lecky, director of the Fisheries Service’s Office of Protected Resources. But biologists are more concerned that low levels of pesticides interfere with the ability of fish to zero in on prey and find their way home to their spawning streams.
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