Defenders Magazine

Washington's Orcas Set Adrift

Denied endangered status, a Pudget Sound population appears headed for disaster

By Tim McNulty

Last spring, newspapers and television newscasts in the Pacific Northwest were awash with stories of an orphaned orca, or killer whale. “Springer," as she was dubbed, had become separated from her family group in Canadian waters and was stranded in a lonely vigil in Washington’s Puget Sound . After months of monitoring her health and weighing her fate, U.S. and Canadian scientists decided to capture the young whale, nurse her back to health and reunite her with family members to the north. By midsummer she was swimming contentedly with members of her pod.

It’s not surprising that the fate of a single orca would capture the attention of the region. Although orcas range worldwide, a unique resident population lives in Washington’s Puget Sound and the Georgia and Hecate straits in nearby British Columbia. Their striking black-and-white shapes are often seen breaching in these protected, inland waters where they roam in pursuit of migrating salmon.

Individual members of the southern resident orca community are well known around Puget Sound, if not by name at least by number (Springer was officially named A-73). Orca images decorate coffee mugs, ball caps and sweatshirts, and commercial whale watching has become one of the region’s fastest-growing recreational industries. Orcas have captured the attention of Northwesterners like few other animals, and the outpouring of concern over Springer is just the most recent expression of an underlying and well-founded fear for the resident community’s survival.

For centuries killer whales were viewed as aggressive predators whose avaricious appetites spurred wanton killings of fish and sea mammals alike. Pliny the Elder of first century Rome described them as “an enormous mass of flesh armed with savage teeth." In 1874 whaling captain Charles Scammon wrote that “they seem always intent on finding something to devour or destroy." The largest members of the dolphin family, orcas average more than 25 feet in length and can weigh up to four tons. Large brained and highly social, orcas are top predators in all of the world’s oceans. And like many other top predators, orcas were feared, hated, harassed and shot — in this case by commercial fishermen — as a matter of course.

Attitudes toward orcas began to change in the 1960s. Captive whales like “Namu," at Seattle Aquarium, “Shamu" at San Diego’s Sea World and dozens of others thrilled crowds with their acrobatic leaps and dives, their playfulness and curiosity. Trainers found them to be highly intelligent and capable of sophisticated forms of communication.

Soon, though, the commercial capture of orcas came under question. In 1976 the National Marine Fisheries Service hired biologist Ken Balcomb to assess the population in Puget Sound, where most of the captures were taking place. Using a technique developed a few years earlier by pioneering Canadian researcher Michael Biggs, Balcomb began photographing orcas and identifying individuals by the appearance of their prominent dorsal fins and variations in the pale saddle patches behind them. “At the time, 34 killer whales had been captured in Puget Sound, and an unknown number were killed in the process," Balcomb recalls. “Population estimates for southern residents were in the hundreds. But our research showed there were only 71 whales left."

Public outcry and a successful court challenge put an end to the captures. Balcomb went on to found the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor , Washington . What he and his fellow scientists have discovered about these isolated orcas in the quarter century since has opened a window into the lives of these complex, social and highly intelligent animals. And it may help save them.

The Pacific Northwest’s resident orcas, the animals that spend summer and fall in the Northwest’s inland waters hunting salmon (their location and habits during the winter months are still a mystery), form two distinct populations. Northern residents hunt along the British Columbia and southeast Alaskan coasts from Vancouver Island north to Nootka Sound . They currently number about 215 and appear to be reproducing at a normal rate. Southern residents frequent the more populous waters from the Strait of Georgia along southern Vancouver Island south to Puget Sound. Their numbers are in precipitous decline. A third population of so-called “transient" orcas, which feed not on salmon but primarily on harbor seals, sea lions and porpoises, occasionally use the same coastal areas but do not interact with resident whales and are genetically distinct. Less is known about these whales, which number between 170 and 200.

The resident orcas form family groups, or pods, of ten to 20 or more. The southern resident community consists of three pods that scientists have labeled J, K and L. Each group is made up of a matriarch, her offspring and their offspring, along a matrilineal succession. Bonds between mothers and calves are extremely strong and last throughout a whale’s life, which averages 30 years for males and 50 years for females but can reach as long as 80 or 90 years.

Resident orcas are highly vocal and communicate with a learned repertoire of clicks, whistles and squeals. In fact, they can do all three at once. Each pod has its own dialect, which is passed from mother to calf. These are recognizable to other resident pods with whom they breed, but differ significantly between northern and southern communities, and apparently are foreign to transients.

Rich Osborne, research director for the Whale Museum on San Juan Island, points out that resident orcas must learn a tremendous amount about the geography of their region’s inlet and island-studded coastline, its patterns of tides and currents and the timing of different salmon runs. “If you’re a long- lived, social animal like the orca, you’re going to share that information with other individuals in your society," he explains. “And if you train your offspring in some fashion, you’re passing information from one generation to the next. That’s culture."

Culture is something of a controversial topic among wildlife biologists. But it may be a big part of what makes this orca population unique. Dialect comparisons and genetic work suggest that southern resident orcas have been isolated from others of their kind for centuries, if not millennia.

The advantages of communication among group members are many. When resident pods hunt for salmon they spread out and sweep across wide swaths of waterways. Exchanging information on the presence and location of salmon clearly benefits the group. Part of the urgency to return Springer to her pod was that chances for survival on her own were slim. But Osborne points out that learned traditions can have disadvantages as well. “There may be a reluctance to abandon traditional habitat areas or prey species that are no longer viable," he says. “Culture, in that case, can be a liability."

Research on Northwest orca populations has spurred similar studies in other parts of the world. The same pattern of large matrilineal pods has been found to hold true for resident communities of salmon and herring-hunting orcas in Alaska and Norway . Each are keyed to distinct foraging areas and have developed dialects of their own. But no other population anywhere is declining as precipitously as the southern residents of Puget Sound.

In May 2001, The Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Whale Research, Ocean Advocates, People for Puget Sound and eight other organizations petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to list the southern resident population of killer whales as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The groups cited a Puget Sound population plunge of 20 percent in recent years, from 99 animals in 1995 to 79 this year. If the trend continues, Puget Sound could soon lose its best-loved icon.

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada had already listed resident killer whales as endangered in British Columbia. But in June the NMFS denied the petition to list the whales in the United States. In an odd twist of logic, the agency acknowledged that Puget Sound ’s orcas could become extinct within the next century, but claimed they do not constitute a “distinct population segment" as required by the law and therefore do not qualify for protection.

“While these animals are in trouble, there is not sufficient justification to list the Puget Sound population under the ESA," said Bob Lohn, the fisheries service’s Northwest regional director, upon release of the decision. The agency instead designated the population as “depleted" under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, a much weaker law, and promised more research into the causes of the decline.

Paul Wade is a NMFS scientist and a member of the biological review team for the listing decision. When asked if the southern resident community constitutes a distinct population segment significant to the species — a criteria for listing — he admitted that they had trouble deciding. Nor were they in agreement over the causes of the decline. “It’s not absolutely clear why the population is declining right now," says Wade. “We know the animals have high contaminant levels, but do we know for sure that’s impacting their health? Unfortunately we don’t." He says the agency is continuing its research into toxics and their effects on orcas, adding, “This is one of the hardest determinations we’ve ever had to make."

Brent Plater, attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, countered that the decision “flies in the face of the best available science." The group has filed notice of its plan to challenge the decision in court, and Defenders of Wildlife may be among the groups participating in the legal action.

Without the protections of an endangered species listing, recovery will be daunting. Factors leading to the whale’s decline are far-reaching, and addressing them will require a major effort.

To begin with, the orcas’ main prey, chinook salmon, are themselves listed as threatened in Puget Sound. Roughly half the salmon stocks that swim through the sound on their way to spawning streams are in serious decline. Habitat degradation from logging, hydroelectric dams and urban development, as well as overfishing, have all taken a toll.

Another factor is industrial pollution, which has built up over decades in bottom sediments in the sound’s urban industrial bays. As salmon become less available, orcas turn to bottom fish, including some that feed in polluted areas. Toxins such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), mercury, lead and other heavy metals move up the food chain from plankton to prey fish and accumulate in the whales’ fatty tissue. These toxins are known to hinder reproduction in sea mammals and impair their immune systems, leaving them susceptible to infection and disease. Necropsies of stranded killer whales in the area have revealed some of the highest levels of toxicity ever recorded, along with high incidents of reproductive failure and disease.

A third factor in the mix may be tied to the whales’ popularity. More than 100,000 people participate in commercial whale watching outings in Washington and British Columbia each year. Research suggests that noise from whale watching boats may interfere with the animals’ echolocation and communication, making it more difficult for them to hunt for fish.

Then there is the persistent threat of an oil spill. The fisheries service’s biological review concluded that the risk of an oil spill is the most acute threat the orcas face. Commercial vessel traffic in and out of Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia make these among the busiest seaways in North America. After the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound, orca numbers dropped from 36 to 22 within a year. At least 14 have disappeared since then.

Together these factors make recovery of Puget Sound’s orcas dependent on restoration of the Sound’s marine ecosystem. In light of this, some see orcas as emissaries to the nearly seven million people who inhabit the Puget Sound-Georgia Strait basin. “This should be a real wake-up call," says Osborne. “The orcas are showing us what we’re doing to the environment — and to ourselves."

The Center for Biological Diversity’s Plater agrees that threats to the orcas are complex. “But to say we can’t pin down the causes for the decline is absurd." He says there is sound evidence of the problems affecting the orcas, and points out that the Endangered Species Act requires the best available science, not perfect science. Plater contends that designating the orcas as “depleted" under the Marine Mammal Protection Act — a law that focuses on the hunting and capture of marine mammals — will do little to address the habitat issues that threaten the population.

Fred Felleman, Northwest director for Ocean Advocates, one of the petitioners for the listing, suggests that many of the measures needed to recover the southern resident population can be undertaken without a species listing. Several of them, in fact, are required under existing law.

For example, opportunities abound for cleaning up toxics in the region. Washington’s Department of Ecology has identified 112 contaminated sites in Puget Sound; at least 22 are federal Superfund sites. As of 2001, only 33 have been or are in the process of being cleaned. Of the 79 remaining, 65 have yet to be delineated, a process of detailed analysis that could take a decade. Felleman contends that a serious commitment to fund these efforts would yield long-term benefits for orcas.

Others charge the government hasn’t fully committed to funding ongoing research and monitoring of the orcas. The biggest gap in scientists’ knowledge about these animals is their range and feeding habits during winter when they leave Puget Sound. This is particularly worrisome, as that is the time when the majority of births and mortalities occur.

Environmentalists point to salmon recovery as another area that deserves increased attention. Orcas are one of the few populations that have been petitioned for endangered species listing whose primary prey is already listed. A logical step, they say, would be to curb shoreline development, particularly in areas of extensive eelgrass beds, which are nurseries for juvenile salmon and the salmon’s primary prey of herring, surf smelt and sand lance. Removal of two salmon-blocking dams on the Elwha River, the most promising salmon recovery effort in the Northwest, should be a top priority. And every initiative to reduce the threat of oil spills should be taken, including stationing fully equipped rescue tugs strategically throughout the sound and straits.

“There’s no other population of whales in the world that we know this much about," says Felleman. “If it isn’t worthy of saving, what is?"

Ken Balcomb predicts it’s only a matter of time before the area’s growing human population realizes that what is happening to orcas — as a result of toxic pollution, ecosystem degradation and loss of wild fisheries — is happening to them too. “Once we see that we’re also on the list of creatures at risk from these things, we’ll get more interested in funding solutions," says Balcomb. “With humans’ future in the balance, it will seem like a great investment."

Tim McNulty, a poet and natural history writer, has written about wolves, sea otters and marbled murrelets for Defenders.