Saturday, March 12, 2011

Report on the Ways of Whales Workshop on Jan. 29, 2011

This was a very informative workshop organized by the Orca Network. Speakers included Brad Hanson, NOAA Northwest Fisheries, who presented the case for satellite tagging of six orcas in the Southern Resident pods. Air guns will be used to attach the tags to mature males and post-reproductive females. Two whales from each pod will be tagged. Brad presented data from the successful tagging of other whale and dolphin species. The goal is to determine where the orcas forage in the “off” season and whether they are traveling through potentially dangerous waters, such as designated military testing areas off the coasts of Washington and Oregon. The tags could transmit data from two weeks to three months.

Currently, acoustic recorders operating off the coast (Cape Flattery, Grays Harbor, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca) provide the only means of tracking the Southern Residents. However, data is often sparse and not reliable as to which pod is traveling through the area.

John Calambokidis, Cascadia Research Collective, gave a worldwide overview of the various whale species population. The largest whale in the world, the Blue whale, is severely endangered – numbering only about 4,000. The number of ship strikes is increasing, especially among Blue whales. Most strikes happen at night when the whales are on the surface.

About 1,000 grays whales have been photo identified. Two distinct populations of gray whales exist in the US—the Eastern and Western North Pacific Gray whales. The Eastern group, which migrates from the Gulf of California to Alaska in the spring (coming very close to our coastline), numbers approximately 20,000. However, only about 150 Western gray whales remain and are found around Sakhalin Island, the Chukchi Sea and well as the Okhotsk Sea. It was thought these whales migrated to China to breed. However, one member of this group has been tagged and is now off the coast of British Columbia heading south. You can monitor its progress at a sight hosted by the Oregon State University Marine Mammal Institute - http://mmi.oregonstate.edu/Sakhalin2010

Monika Wieland gave an interesting tutorial on how to identify the Southern Residents’ calls. Dialects are based upon social and cultural divisions not geographic. Different dialects can exist in a clan, a community, a pod, or a matrilineal line. If you would like to purchase a CD that identifies the various calls of the three pods, checkout her website at: http://www.orcawatcher.com/ Tracking of the Northern Resident pods can be found at http://www.orcalife.net/

Carol Ray was a trainer at SeaWorld for three years. After leaving SeaWorld, she began working with a group of ex-trainers to expose the dismal conditions at the marine parks. The longevity of a captive whale is but 7 years – 8 years if you factor in Lolita’s years in captivity. In captivity, females give birth at 7 years and become pregnant every two years. Interbreeding among these close family members is allowed at the parks resulting in many stillbirths. Another website – http://orcaaware.com/orca-tracker/ gives information on captive whales.

Suzanne Chisholm, director of the documentary about Luna (L98), announced that the film would be released in the US finally. The documentary has been slightly remade to include actor Ryan Reynolds as the narrator. Ryan and actress Scarlett Johansson have also signed on as producers. The documentary with a new title – The Whale – will be released in June. Suzanne spoke of the young whale captured off the Netherlands and named Morgan, who may now spend the rest of its life in captivity. The website http://www.freemorgan.nl/ or http://www.freemorgan.com/ has more information.

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