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14 December 2003: Report casts killer whales as villains of seas. Biologists disagree about orcas decimating populations

Along with its regular work advising the government, the federal Marine Mammal Commission was to review evidence "that rogue packs of killer whales" are wiping out discrete populations of the most endangered marine mammals... [read the full article by Doug O'Harra, Anchorage Daily News]

28 October 2003: Agency seeks protection for orca group - PROPOSAL: Seal-eating pod seems to be dying out

A family of Prince William Sound killer whales that lost more than half its members in an unprecedented decline would get special federal protection under a proposal by the National Marine Fisheries Service... [read the full article by Doug O'Harra, Anchorage Daily News]

Related information:
• NMFS AT1 killer whale page
• 13 Nov '02 news update

6 October 2003: An exceptionally busy year!

It's been an exceptionally busy year for us here at NGOS with a long a productive field season. Our work with killer whales ranged over 2000 miles… From southeastern Alaska to the eastern Aleutian Islands and involved the use of five different boats. We studied and photographed both residents (fish eating killer whales-all our adoption whales are of the fish eating type) and transients (marine mammal eating killer whales). The two types are different genetically… they do not associate or interbreed.

Some of the high points:

Large groups of transients were observed on four occasions feeding on gray whales in the eastern Aleutian Islands. It appears that these whales, usually found in small groups, unite to attack and feed on the migrating gray whales in the False Pass and Unimak Pass in May and June. The grays (and their calves, born in the winter in Mexican waters) use Unimak Pass to move from the Pacific Ocean to the Bering Sea, where they feed during the summer months.

In southeastern Alaska, NGOS researchers watched several transient killer whales tear apart a kelp bed to get at a sea otter… They didn't seem to want to eat it, but let a young killer whale (about two years old) bat it around a bit. Finally an adult whale batted the hapless sea otter into the air with its flukes and it landed in the kelp, unconscious. The whales left and when the researchers went to examine the otter, it awoke, startled, and swam off.

Chiswell Island

Steller sea lions hauled out on Chiswell Island

Transient killer whales also train their young by letting them attack sea birds such as puffins and cormorants. Three transients (two adults and a two year old) were frequently seen in Kenai Fjords this year. Kai, the calf, is the offspring of Natasha (AT111). Matushka (AT109) is an older female (whom you can see harassing sea lions on the video clips posted on this web site). They specialize in hunting Steller sea lions juveniles and pups at the Chiswell Island rookery. We observed several sea lion kills, but we also watched as young Kai attacked puffins and auklets with the help of the older whales. He whacked the seabirds with his flukes and hit them with his snout and at times carried the dead birds in his mouth for several minutes.

The transients are stealthy and quiet, a great contrast from the residents we watched in Montague Strait in Prince William Sound, where aggregations of over 100 whales from five pods gathered to socialize in August. It is during these events we think most of the calves are conceived. At these time the residents are loud (they are constantly "talking" when we put our hydrophone in the water to listen) and boisterous at the surface, with lots of tail slapping, flipper slapping, and occasional breaches and spyhops. Whales from Kodiak as well as southeast Alaska travel for hundreds of miles to be part of these social groups. How do they know the time and place that they will find these other whales that they rarely have contact with?

The weather was good… calm seas and sunny skies… which made our work much more pleasant. We were able to photographically identify many whales that we had not seen in a few years and determine new calves as well as which whales had died. This is all part of our effort to keep close tabs on these whales to make sure they are not in decline. We also took some biopsy samples to determine relationships between different pods and to check for contaminants. We are hopeful that the high levels of contaminants from industrial pollutants in the whales' blubber (mostly DDTs and PCBs) will begin to decline at some point. These contaminants come north in weather systems to fall in pristine Alaskan waters-they originate in China and southeast Asia. One of the best things that individuals can do to help killer whales is to urge your Senator to sign the international treaty banning the use of PCBs and DDTs worldwide. The United States has still not signed this treaty, and it will not be effective until we do.

This summer, we were again joined by photographer Flip Nicklin and writer Douglas Chadwick of National Geographic magazine. They are writing a story about North Pacific killer whales. Be watching for it. One of the exciting encounters of season occurred with Flip and Doug on board. One day in late August, we'd been following AB pod as they foraged for salmon down Knight Island Passage. As part of our research into feeding behavior, we've been picking focal animals to watch closely as they hunt for salmon. In our field notebook, we record the time between breaths, which helps us to distinguish between traveling/searching and actual chases of salmon. We followed mother/juvenile groups that day. Like transient mothers, resident females actively train their calves and juveniles to hunt. One female hung back while her calf chased a silver salmon around our boat. The salmon used the boat's hull as a shelter. Eventually, mom came to the rescue. She caught the salmon and handed it off her calf. In another encounter, a calf caught the salmon, mom took it from the calf's mouth and the calf grabbed it back from her.

August with its mother

We followed the AJ pod whales all afternoon into thickening rain clouds. Suddenly all of the whales we'd been following disappeared. We spotted a single blow near a small island. When we got there, we found the whole pod resting in a very narrow passage, moving slowly south. What made the whales so suddenly change direction and behavior? Now all 22 animals were rolling, moving very slowly, bodies touching. For the first time, we noticed a brand new calf present in the group. It hadn't been present in our last encounter with AJ pod, two weeks prior. The calf belonged to Cloud (AJ29) and was her first offspring. This is only the second summer birth we've seen. Most calves are born sometime during the winter. So naturally, this new calf is named "August." Soon we discovered why the pod had stopped foraging, come together and changed direction. Another pod was up ahead. The whales joined together and excitedly headed back into Knight Island Passage.

The news for the AT1 transients is not encouraging. This small, genetically and acoustically distinct transient population was once one of our most commonly seen groups in Prince William Sound. Since the Exxon Valdez oil spill, over half of the original 22 animals have died. Another AT1 male was found dead on Latouche Island last spring. That leaves only eight animals. Seven of those AT1s were seen in the fjords of Aialik Bay this summer, areas where harbor seals, their preferred prey, are still relatively abundant near the glaciers. The harbor seal population in Prince William Sound has declined by 80% and isn't recovering. We are continuing to work with environmental groups to petition the National Marine Fisheries Service to designate the AT1s as a depleted population, in hopes that some special protection can be granted them.

All in all we had a very successful field season. We are now back in the office, analyzing our photographs and samples, updating our identification catalogues, and writing annual reports to our funders and publishing our findings in scientific journals. In November, we will travel to Sitka, Alaska for the annual Whale Festival.

Meanwhile, the killer whales are continuing on with their lives. Just the other day Capra and the other members of the AD5 pod were here in Kachemak Bay, in front of Homer, eating the late run silver salmon and trying to thicken their blubber layers before the long, dark winter sets in here in Alaska. The fall storms have been rolling through with heavy rains and winds up to 50 miles per hour. It's very difficult for us to be on the water, but the whales seem to have little problem, most of their time spent below the rough surface. We'll keep this web site posted as the results of our photographic, genetic and acoustic analyses are completed. In Seward, Mike Brittain will continue to monitor the remote hydrophone in Resurrection Bay through the winter. Mike listens for killer whale calls from his home on the waterfront, makes recordings and sometimes even spots whales from his living room window. The Natoa will stay in the water through October, just in case the weather calms down enough for Mike to head out to intercept and photograph the whales. But, because of the work of acoustician Harald Jurk, with Mike's recordings, we can identify which killer whales come and go in Resurrection Bay, even when the weather's stormy by listening to the remote hydrophone.

8 May 2003 update: encounter with AD5 pod

Today was the first day since last fall that we have spent with AD5 pod. We were glad to find that Capra (AD31) is alive and well.... to say the least. He was the most rambunctious whale in the pod... chasing the other younger juveniles, Nanwalek (named after a native village) and Auriga and leading them over to the boat where they played on the bow over and over. Capra made some high leaps... the picture is evidence of his high jumping ability! He also swam along with he boat, seeming to recognize Eva when she leaned over and signaled to him. He approached her repeatedly alongside the boat as you can see in the other picture. He has another nick.. probably due to his rough playing and a little grey mottling in his saddle patch, but otherwise seems very robust and healthy. It was fortunate that the National Park Service Ranger, Doug Capra, who we named Capra was leading a tour on another boat. We called them over so that all the people on the tourboat could see that Capra was, indeed, alive and well!

1-7 March 2003: The Great Alaska Killer Whale Count

On March 1-7, 2003 we would like YOU to watch for killer whales in Alaska and tell us two things:

• Where did you go on those days?
• Did you see any killer whales?

To participate, go to www.alaskakillerwhales.org.

7 February 2003: Orcas and sea lion decline

"In the ongoing debate over what's causing the decline of Alaska's Steller sea lions, researchers have studied everything from nutritional stress to climate change. Now researchers have turned their attention to killer whales. As Doug Schneider reports in this week's Arctic Science Journeys Radio, scientists say the chance to see if killer whales are eating too many sea lions is also a chance to learn more about killer whales themselves." - Doug Schneider

• Listen to Craig Matkin's interview on Arctic Science Journeys Radio
  (you should have RealPlayer installed to open this file)
   
• Read the radio script for this story
   
• See also on Arctic Science Journeys Radio:
            ° Whale Count Results (08/05/02)
            ° Wanted: Your Killer Whale Sightings (07/12/02)
            ° How Orcas Hunt (10/11/96)
            ° Last of the AT-1 Orcas (09/14/96)

 

Read the past news updates for 2002 , 2001 and 2002.

 

 

 

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