Endangered Species Coalition 2015 Top 10 Report Nominating Form
General Information
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Organization & Web address
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Contact name for species info
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Address
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Email & phone
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Communications staff contact name
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Email & phone
General Species Information
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Common name, genus, and species
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Geographic range
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Conservation Status
Remaining population size
Report Questions
11 Do you have high resolution photos that can
be used in the report?
12 Will you want printed reports? If so how
many?
13 If your species is selected, will you use the
report as a tool to organize around the
species and/or publicize its plight?
Public Engagement Questions (Please explain why
the species is interesting, why it matters, why
decision-makers + the public should care.)
14 Interesting facts about the species
Nominating Organizations: Please use this Column to Provide the Requested Information
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Southern Resident Killer Whale Chinook Salmon Initiative – www.srkwcsi.org
Dr. Deborah A. Giles – Science Adviser & Communications
P.O. Box 178, Friday Harbor, WA 98250
dagiles@ucdavis.edu & d.giles@srkwcsi.org (916) 531-1516
Dr. Deborah A. Giles, Sharon Grace – Coordinator
Sharon.grace@srkwcsi.org (360) 370-3377
Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW), Orcinus orca; the Southern Resident
population is made up of three pods: J-Pod, K-Pod, and L-Pod.
The known geographic range for the SRKW extends from southeast Alaska to central
California. Their currently designated critical habitat in the United States includes only
a portion of the known range: the summer core area in Haro Strait and waters around
the San Juan Islands; Puget Sound; and the Strait of Juan de Fuca
Endangered (listing effective February, 2006)
As of June 8, 2015, there were 81 Southern Resident orcas, down from 88 orcas a
decade ago, when the population was first listed as endangered. J Pod has 27 whales,
K Pod has 19 whales, and L Pod has 35 whales.
Yes
Yes; we would like 200 reports.
We would use the report to educate the public about all threats facing this population
and actions that can be taken to stop its decline, with a specific focus on increasing
awareness of how improving Chinook salmon runs can reverse the orcas’ decline.
The Southern Residents, apex predators, are the most studied whales in the world.
They are intelligent, sentient, long lived, and intensely social. In the wild, females can
live past 80 and males past 60 years of age. Each killer whale can be identified by a
unique saddle patch behind the dorsal fin; by the size and shape of his or her body,
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Additional background information to
complete the species profile in the report
dorsal fin and eye patches; and by one-of-a kind scratches, scars and nicks on his or
her body. Each Southern Resident pod has its own dialect, consisting of calls, whistles
and social sounds unique to that pod, but is capable of imitation by other pods, and
common calls are used by all three pods. Based on the similarity of their dialects and
the common calls, researchers have classified the Southern Residents as a single clan.
Southern Residents have strong family ties and are matrilineal; both male and female
offspring stay with their mother until they or she dies, and survival of offspring is
highly dependent on care by the mothers. Young males are three times more likely to
die the year after their mother's death than are males whose mothers are living.
Males over 30 years old are even more vulnerable; their risk of death is eightfold.
Young daughters are less vulnerable, perhaps due to adoption by other females, but
older daughters are almost three times more likely to die when their mothers die.
Killer whales and pilot whales are the only two animal species, aside from humans,
known to undergo menopause
One distinct cultural behavior in the Southern Resident community is the “greeting
ceremony.” After absences, two pods may greet each other by forming facing
horizontal lines of whales that swim towards each other, until some unknown signal
initiates unrestrained socializing and rambunctious surface active behaviors among all
pod members.
There are different kinds or “ecotypes” of killer whales frequenting the waters of BC
Canada and Washington State; one group eats only mammals while the other group
eats only fish. The fish eaters, traveling in larger groups and returning to the island
waters for the Salish Sea each spring are known as “Southern Residents” and
“Northern Residents,” while mammal eaters are called “transients.” Although their
ranges overlap, Northern and Southern “Resident fish-eating” populations do not
interbreed. While the fish- and mammal-eating orca populations are often seen in the
same waters at the same time of year, they do not interbreed. Research on the
mitochondrial DNA of these whales show them to be genetically and culturally distinct
populations of killer whales that have not interbred for more than 700,000 years
(Morin et al., 2010).
Three key issues negatively affecting the SRKWs are decreased food availability,
toxicity build-up over time, and increasing interference from boat traffic (NOAA/NMFS
2006). Each threat compounds the effects of the others: food-stressed individuals
metabolize their blubber stores, releasing toxins that can impair immune and
reproductive functions. Noise from boat traffic increases the difficulty of foraging and
causes the whales to expend more energy to communicate.
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What are the most important messages that
should be communicated about this species'
decline? Please be sure to indicate your
organization’s lead message that you would
like to be included in the report.
Is your NGO working to save the species? If
yes, how? (Optional)
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How can individuals help? Please be as
specific as possible.
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Is there anything else that governments or
others could/should/are doing to save the
species?
Criteria-specific Questions
20 Describe the specific threat(s) to the species.
Lack of prey may be causing the Southern Resident killer whales to become
disconnected from each other. Southern Resident killer whale foraging behavior has
changed in response to lack of prey (Giles and Cendak, 2010). Because the Chinook
have become so few and far between, the whales have been documented foraging
across large expanses of water, sometimes miles apart from one another. For whales
who have traditionally hunted cooperatively, the newer behavioral category of whales
being "max spread, forage-search" is cause for genuine concern.
SRKWs are among the most toxic of all marine mammals (Garrett & Ross 2010). They
are exposed to toxins—persistent organic pollutants (POPs)—not only when they
ingest their prey, but also when they come into direct contact with toxins on the
surface of the water – e.g. oil or fuel spills (Ross 2010). POPs are known to reduce
reproductive health and reduce immune system function, making the orcas more
prone to disease and endocrine and neurologic malfunctions (Garrett & Ross 2010).
The most important message to communicate is that the Southern Residents’ decline
likely can be reversed by human intervention. Threats the orcas face are well
understood; the needed management actions are known and will have a high
probability of success. The second most important message is that lack of prey is the
single most significant threat to the Southern Residents’ recovery.
Yes. SRKW CSI is a grassroots community organization based in the center of the
whales’ summer core habitat. We are educating the public about the connection
between the Snake River salmon and the four lower Snake River dams. SRKW CSI is
actively advocating for breaching the four lower Snake River dams to increase Snake
River Chinook salmon.
Individuals can make simple life-style choices—conserving water and power, and not
using toxic chemicals—to benefit the environment. Individuals can also engage in the
political process to advocate for breaching the four lower Snake River dams to recover
Chinook salmon.
Stop sources of acute sound such as military detonations and sonar, seismic surveys,
and pile driving in the Southern Residents’ known range; breach the four lower Snake
River; appropriate funds necessary to remove the Klamath River dams; and move
quickly to codify the proposed expansion of the whale’s critical habitat along the
Pacific Coast from the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Washington to Point Reyes, California.
Lack of food sources; contaminants; and vessel effects. Additional threats to the
population include oil spills and United States and Canadian Navy sonar and other
military testing.
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Why is it in need of greater connectivity?
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Is its geographic range shifting?
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Is there concern around the cyclical/seasonal
life of the species and its interactions within
ecosystems?
Does it have isolated populations?
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Is it at risk of low genetic diversity?
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How urgent is the need for greater
connectivity in order to conserve this
species? Does it face a current, imminent, or
future threat?
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Indicate if there is an associated political
threat. For instance, is this species being
actively attacked by an industry group or
member of Congress?
Connectivity blocks are disconnection from the orca’s major food source, salmon. It is
also disconnected from its food source due to boat traffic, sonar and other noise
disturbance which interferes with communication for hunting as a pod.
The geographic range is widening due to food scarcity, causing whales to roam in
wider geographic ranges in order to find food. This increases energy use, as well as fat
store access, which causes the release of toxins and resultant health declines from
these toxin releases. If food sources become further depleted in a particular river
system or even coast-wide, the whales will be forced to adapt by either finding new
places with food, traveling more to find food, splitting into smaller groups, or losing
members to starvation.
This is a long lived mammal, with lifespans of 50-80 years, thus there isn't a seasonal
or cyclical life process. Interactions with its environment are always a challenge, and
lack of food, toxic buildup and boating interference all make life harder to sustain.
There are three pods, each of which forages at times in different locations, with J-pod
more local to Puget Sound, and the other two ranging more widely, with L-pod coming
as far south as Monterey, Calif. There is no specific isolation of any pod as they range
as they please in the ocean.
As the population gets lower genetic diversity becomes a problem. With this group of
whales only a couple of them are gravid females, and only a couple of males mate
with them. Fewer gravid females means less genetic diversity. It is considered that the
population is as low as it can go now (80) if genetic diversity is to be healthy. Any
drops now are considered threatening.
Without greater connectivity to its primary food source (salmon at 90% of food source
of SRKW) there is a distinct threat of extinction over the next several years. It is the
primary reason they are ESA listed. Boating traffic and noise makes hunting more
difficult, and access to food more blocked. Increased toxic buildup causes health
issues as well as a drop in reproductive success. If the whales are less healthy hunting
salmon becomes even more difficult.
Yes, the threat is imminent with the current situation of irregular reproductive
success, lack of an available food source, and health challenges related to toxic load.
Food availability is the #1 threat, and the whales are now much more disconnected
from that food, causing many more challenges to their survival.
While Southern Residents are not directly politically targeted, the lack of political will
to take the steps necessary to increase Chinook salmon abundance is killing the
whales. The other critical political/military threat is percussive/concussive activity.
Judge’s Score for Severity and Extent of Threat
28 Detail information on any social or economic
benefits the species provides—e.g., its value
for recreation or as a subject of scientific
research. (Optional)
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Detail the ecological importance of the
species (e.g., is it a keystone species?).
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Describe how the species could be
considered an “ambassador: or “flagship”
species to enlist public support for
conservation.
The SRKWs add a minimum of $65-70 million to Washington State’s economy, with an
average annual growth rate of 3%. The Pacific Whale Watch Association estimates that
14,000 whale watch trips were conducted by PWWA operators in 2014 carrying an
estimated 400,000 passengers. Moreover, for every passenger on a whale-watching
excursion, there are almost always associated economic benefits for local restaurants,
stores and hotels
The Southern Resident killer whales are of great ecological and scientific importance
when it comes to assessing the risks and impacts of environmental factors on human
populations and also for other fish eating marine mammals such as seals and
porpoises. Quite simply, the salmon they eat are the salmon we eat; the toxins they
ingest are the toxins we ingest.
The Southern Residents are key ambassadors for the threats facing us all. The SRKWs,
a top level carnivore, are an indicator or ambassador species that can be used to
communicate threats to the overall health of our shared ecosystem.
Judge’s Score for Importance of Species
Judge’s Final Score
Please submit to top10@endangered.org, and thank you for participating in the 2015 Top 10 Report.