New Calf, Vessel Regulation Comments, Blog Honor

I have three things of note to blog about, so I thought I would combine them all into one post. First, and most excitingly, there has been another new calf born to J-Pod! On January 3rd it was confirmed that J47 is a new calf born to young first-time mom J35 Talequah. This makes for six calves born in the last year (!!!) and no deaths (!!!), so the Southern Resident population now stands at 88.

From left to right: J17, J35, and J28

What makes this calf's birth especially interesting is the fact that all three members of the J17 matriline (J17 Princess Angeline and her daughters J28 Polaris and J35 Talequah) have now had calves in the last year. Since J35's birth in 1998, this matriline has just been made up of these three females. Now, in the span of just twelve months, their family group has doubled in size! Rather than describe in words who was born to whom and when, here is a little family tree graphic I made that shows how this matriline has changed:

You may recall that I was lucky enough to be on scene the very first time J46 was seen with mom J28 Polaris back in November. I can just imagine the excitement and mayhem of having three youngsters all in one family. I can't wait to see them next season!

Secondly, I've posted before about the new proposed vessel regulations in response to the endangered listing of the Southern Resident orcas by sharing my opinion and my comments from the public meeting. NOAA extended the original deadline of the comment period to January 15th - so if you haven't yet submitting your comments this is your reminder that now is the time to do so! You can find all the relevant info from NOAA here.

Finally, I wanted to share that my blog was honored on this list of Top 50 Marine Biology blogs. I blog for fun and to share my sightings and photos with others around the world with similar interests and passions, and it's always special to receive feedback (that's why I love your comments!) and recognition. So, let me just take this as an opportunity to say: thanks for reading!

NOAA Vessel Regulation Meeting in Friday Harbor

Tonight was the final public meeting to gather comments about NOAA's proposed vessel regulations for operating around the endangered Southern Resident killer whales. For some more background on the issue you can read my previous post on the subject here. It was a full house at Friday Harbor High School where more than 100 people gave 2-minute public comments in the three hour and 45 minute meeting.

I won't attempt to convey everything that was said, but there was strong representation from the commercial whale watching and sport fishing industries, as well as a decent amount of comments from kayakers and residents who live on the westside of San Juan Island in the proposed no-go zone area. There was a lot of support for the alternate proposal put forth by the Pacific Whale Watch Association and others, asking for a slow-go zone rather than a no-go zone. Nearly all of those who supported the no-go zone asked for exemptions for kayakers, and often for recreational fisherman as well. A lot of comments also focused on the difficult issue of enforcement (or lack thereof), and the fact that we need to focus on the salmon issue. I recognize that this meeting and comment period are about vessel effects, but in my opinion it's off-base to talk about the long-term survival of these whales and not put salmon recovery as a top priority. NOAA says they are doing things to address salmon recovery, but so far very little of this reported activity has been in the public eye.

Here are the comments I made during my two minutes:

The Southern Residents were only listed as endangered after they were designated as a distinct population segment, which defines them as separate not only from other cetaceans, but from other members of their own species. It seems inconsistent, then, that so much of the science cited in the proposal focuses on a wide variety of other species from other places. As one example, I’ll point out that a primary citation for the impact of kayaks on killer whales comes from studies of Steller sea lion haul outs in Alaska.

Of the science that does specifically focus on the Southern Residents, the results are tenuous at best. If you talk directly to the researchers you will realize many of the results are more inconclusive than indicated in the proposal. Even if you accept their findings, for instance that whales do more surface active behaviors or vocalize louder in the presence of boats, you have to realize that these changes in behavior are not biologically significant. I understand that ideally we don’t want humans to impact whale behavior in any way, but when talking about their survival, extra tail slaps or louder calls are not going to make or break this population.

No matter how many regulations we put in place, there will continue to be violations. Not just because these regulations would be difficult to enforce, or the fact that there is insufficient enforcement for even our current regulations, but because after spending nine years observing these whales from boats and shore, it is clear to me that they are going to do whatever they want to do whether boats are there or not. They will chase salmon under boats if that’s where they want to feed, they will change direction and pass near a boat if that’s where they want to travel, and they will even seek out boats like freighters (the loudest, largest, and fastest moving vessels the whales routinely encounter) just to surf in their wakes for the fun of it like I saw them do a few weeks ago.

So much time and effort has been focused on the vessel issue. I wish this much energy was being put towards salmon recovery, the true deal breaker for the Southern Resident orcas.

While of course there were a lot of varying opinions in the room, overall I think my comments were pretty well received. On my way back to my seat I received lots of pats on the back, handshakes, high fives, and even (half jokingly) a job offer! Since the vessel proposal was put out, I've spent so much time mulling all this over, and after all that thinking I ended up writing the above statement pretty quickly the night before the meeting. I wasn't sure what, if anything, to say at the meeting and then it be claim clear to me the points I feel most passionate about. It's encouraging and hopeful to know that so many people agree with those sentiments.

It was overall a great community event and it was great to see people from so many different backgrounds take the time to be there and make comments. I sincerely hope NOAA takes all these comments into serious consideration before moving forward with these or any alternative regulations.

Anyway, that's all for now. I'm sure there will be a lot more in the media between now and the end of October. Again, I strongly encourage all of you to submit your own written comments to NOAA by October 27th. You can find all the necessary links on my previous blog post.

Check back tomorrow for some photos from today's AMAZING encounter with J-Pod!!

New Proposed Vessel Guidelines for Southern Residents - Time to Chime In

After being designated as a distinct population segment (DSP) of the worldwide orca population, the Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW) were listed as endangered under the US Endangered Species Act in November of 2005. The current count has the SRKWs at 85 animals, down from a historic population estimated to be 150-200 animals, and they are thought to comprise their own unique breeding population despite the presence of several other populations of killer whales in Pacific Northwest waters.

The proposed recovery plan developed by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) identifies three main threats as contributing factors to the recently observed population decline: diminishing prey abundance, pollutants in the water, and vessel effects, which includes both direct interference and sound contributed primarily by underwater engine noise.

Commercial whale watchers have for many years followed a set of voluntary guidelines restricting boat behavior around the whales, including but not limited to not approaching the whales closer than 100 yards, slowing vessels down within 400 yards of the whales, not approaching the whales from directly in front of or behind them, and not parking in their path. They also observe a voluntary “no-go” zone covering much of the westside of San Juan Island when the whales are present, staying ¼ mile offshore for most of the shoreline, ½ mile offshore near Lime Kiln Lighthouse, and 1/8 mile offshore at all other coastlines. In June of 2008 it became illegal in the state of Washington to intentionally motor within 100 yards of Southern Resident orcas.

In the first major conservation effort since the endangered listing, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has partnered with NMFS and at the end of July released a set of new proposed vessel regulations that would apply to boats near killer whales in US waters. They are recommending that law prohibit vessels from approaching within 200 yards of killer whales, and that boats of all types (with a few specific exceptions) observe a mandatory no-go zone, whether whales are present or not, for ½ mile off most of the Westside of San Juan Island from May 1 to September 30 every year, the peak season the Southern Residents are in the area.

These proposed vessel regulations have spawned what many are calling the San Juan Island version of “Whale Wars”, with lots of media attention focusing on the opinions on both sides of this issue ranging from one extreme to the other. Some people feel that these regulations are a long time coming, that whale watch vessels are a significant contributor to the decline of these whales, and that these proposed rules are not extreme enough. Others feel that NOAA is barking up the wrong tree and focusing on the wrong issue entirely, these regulations will do nothing to significantly help the whales, and instead that all these rules will do is decrease the whale-watching experience and have a negative effect on the local economy. I’ve largely stayed quiet on this issue so far, taking some time to gather my thoughts, do some research, and seek out the opinions of others that I respect – some of you may recognize some of your sentiments echoed below. My thoughts and opinions could easily be more long-winded than they already are, but for those who are interested, here are some key points I feel pretty strongly about:

• It is clear that the three identified threats to Southern Residents can be prioritized by importance in this order: 1) not enough salmon, 2) toxins in the environment, 3) vessel effects. I understand NOAA is focusing on vessel effects first because it is the easiest issue to tackle in the short term, but it still seems backwards to me, and I wish half as much energy was being focused on talking about salmon issues as is being expended talking about boats.
• Kayakers, to be blunt, are getting screwed by these regulations. There have been no studies looking specifically at the impact of kayaking on local orcas, and they are just getting lumped in with all other vessels when in reality they are the quietest and slowest-moving of the crafts we see out there with the whales. Closing the westside of San Juan Island to kayaking in the summer months would have huge local economic impacts – not only to local kayak companies, but to other local venues such as hotels and restaurants, as well as to the San Juan County Park system which gets a significant amount of money from both commercial and private kayakers that launch from the park on the westside.
• The whole reason we are even talking about the endangered listing of the Southern Residents is because they were designated a distinct population segment, different not only from other types of marine mammals but actually culturally unique from all other groups of killer whales. Why is it, then, that most of the studies cited in NOAA’s proposal report the impact of vessels not even on killer whales, but on other species entirely: humpback whales, bottlenose dolphins, right whales, etc. If these whales are endangered because of their uniqueness then any decisions regarding their management should be based on studies focused specifically on them. Note, for instance, that their statement about kayakers affecting the whales is backed by a citation of a study on the impact of kayaks on terrestrial Steller sea lion haul outs in Glacier Bay, Alaska.
• There is no strong science supporting the statement that boats are in any way contributing to the decline of the Southern Resident population. Research on the local whales has shown some impact of boats influencing surface behaviors and vocalizations, and I understand that NOAA’s viewpoint is that any disturbance of an endangered species is a negative one. But we really have to consider not only observed vessel impacts, but the biological significance of any recorded impacts. If whales occasionally tailslap more often when a boat is in close proximity or increase the amplitude of their calls when vessel noise is high, is that really affecting the fitness of these animals? Does it translate, for instance, into them needing more salmon, or being less effective at hunting?
• The most convincing studies of vessel effects have been acoustic, describing changes in the vocalizations the whales make when boat engine noise is high. These proposed regulations to little to address that issue specifically, especially since the most significant contributors of noise – shipping traffic, which is louder even if the boats themselves are further away from the whales – are completely ignored. How about making the ½ mile zone on the west side a SLOW go zone instead of a no-go zone, which would reduce engine noise but still make this area accessible to whale watchers, recreational boaters, and kayakers.
• The enforcement (or rather, the lack thereof) of these regulations will be a nightmare. I don’t see there magically being more enforcement boats on the water with the passing of these regulations. Right now, most of the vessel monitoring occurs by Soundwatch, a program of The Whale Museum that is on the water to act as a watchdog to commercial boats as well as be a boat-based education program that passes out whale watch guidelines to private boaters. There are only occasionally enforcement boats on the water that have the ability to write tickets to boats violating the motoring within 100 yard law, but they rarely hand out actual citations since they don’t feel enough education has been done to keep private boaters from committing these violations. From having volunteered on Soundwatch, I know its true that many private boaters approached by Soundwatch have no idea what the current whale watch guidelines are, even though they have been in place in one form or another for 10-15 years. I think it makes more sense to commit time and money to educating the public (mandatory education with boat registration, perhaps?) about the current regulations we have in place to increase compliance with those, rather than implement new regulations that, in essence, only the commercial whale watchers will know about. What will happen in reality is you will have the commercial whale watch boats following the new rules and staying ½ mile offshore, watching private boats watch whales right along the shoreline of San Juan Island, with no one to tell them not to do so.
• Soundwatch reports that most of their observed vessel behavior violations occur by private boaters, who are, as discussed above, largely unaware or oblivious to even the current boater regulations. I know critics will be quick to point out that plenty of commercial whale watch boats also commit violations, and I don’t disagree. Many people take this to mean that the whale watch boats are ineffectual at policing themselves, but it is on this point that I disagree. Over the last nine summers I’ve watched whales here (and I’ve watched them a lot from both shore and from boats) I have seen a huge improvement in the behavior of commercial boats around the whales I think it’s the general sentiment that commercial boats are better behaved than they were ten years ago. What people need to realize is that there will never NOT be incidents of boats being close to whales. You can regulate people all you want, but until you can regulate the whales (read: never), they are going to continue doing what they please, which means being unpredictable in their traveling and surfacing patterns. I have the honor of working with several whale watch captains who do all they can to comply with the whale watch guidelines, but even they sometimes “get caught” with whales too close to the boat, and when this happens, we just cut our engines and enjoy the moment for what it is – a nice view of the whales doing whatever they want.
• I think it is naïve to say that the regulations will have no impact on the whale-watching experience. Currently, there are already trips we run where we don’t see the whales closer than 200 yards, and people are very content with these views. But on those days when the whales are all along the shoreline of San Juan Island and the boats have to be a ½ mile away, it is going to be a tough sell. The whales do spend a lot of time in this zone, but it has not been demonstrated that it is of any particular importance to them culturally, as the Robson Bight Ecological Preserve is for the Northern Residents. Imagine what it will be like if all of J-Pod is inshore and J1 Ruffles is the only whale further than a ½ mile offshore, which often happens. You will have the entire whale-watching fleet on one whale, rather than spread out over the whole pod.
• Finally, I think it is important to remember the role that whale-watching places in the preservation of the Southern Residents. On a daily basis we, as a commercial whale watch company, establish lifelong connections between people and the whales. I think whale-watch boats play an invaluable role in the education of the public on the real issues threatening the orcas – declining salmon stocks and toxins in the water. I have seen countless people transformed after they see a wild orca, touched for life by spending an hour observing killer whales in their natural habitat. I often spend the whole trip back to port talking to people about the threats the whales face and what they can do to help. Yes, we need to monitor the impact of vessels around the whales, and continue to discuss and develop guidelines and ways to educate all boaters about safe practices around the whales. But rather than target whale watching as a front-and-center reason for the decline of local whales, a statement that has no basis in the scientific literature, I think we need to recognize whale-watching for what it is: a platform to foster a sense of stewardship about not only our local endangered whales, but the entire ecosystem that they, and all of us really, depend on.

I strongly encourage all of you to read up on this issue (see the above link to read the documents related to the proposed guidelines) and, regardless of your stance, submit your public comments by the October 27 deadline. There will also be public meetings in Seattle on September 30th and in Friday Harbor on October 5th. You can submit your public comments online.