Whale You Help Save Killer Whales?
The Southern Resident Killer Whale: A Species Listed on the Endangered Species Act.
By: Lindsey Kuster
- Description and Ecology of Organism
 |
| Figure 1 - Killer Whale |
The killer whale, also known as the
Orcinus orca, is known for its distinct look seen in figure 1. These whales have
a black back with a white stomachs, sides, and patch around its eye. Killer
whales are big! They can reach up to 31ft in length and weigh around 6 tons. Because
of the whale’s size and athletic build, they are the fastest marine mammal, reaching
speeds around 35mph. Something
cool about these whales is that they use very advance vocal communications to
talk to one another and travel and live in highly stable social groups or pods (figure 3).
They also us echolocation for feeding and they primarily eat salmonids.
- Geographic
and Population Changes
 |
| Figure 2 - Habitat of Killer Whales |
Southern Resident killer whales live primarily
off of the coast of Washington State and British Columbia seen in figure 2. From
1996 to 2001, the population of these whales declined about 20%, so they became
petitioned for listing under the Endangered Species Act in 2001. Southern
Resident killer whales were listed as an endangered species in 2005. Since
2001, this killer whale population had been increasing, with 87 whales in the
region in 2007.
 |
| Figure 3- Killer whale pod |
- Listing
Date and Type of Listing
Date listed: 02/16/2006
Type of Listing: Endangered
- Cause
of listing and Main threats to its continued existence
Figure 4 - Oil Spill pollution
The main threats to the killer whales
are prey availability, pollution and contaminants, and sound pollution from
boats and vessels. These whales also have a small population size which can
make them more vulnerable to extinction, from many factors including oil
spills (figure 4).
- Description
of Recovery Plan
The recovery plan that was developed to
addresses the main threats to the population.
·
Prey Availability:
Managers
are using resources to support the salmon population, including their habitat and
harvest management.
·
Pollution/Contamination: Efforts
to clean up contaminated areas, and to minimize future contaminates that are
harmful to the killer whales.
·
Vessel
Effects:
Working to improve the guidelines for vessels around the killer whales habitat.
·
Oil
Spills:
Working to improve response preparation in case of an oil spill and working to
prevent oil spills in the first place.
·
Acoustic
Effects: using
resources to minimize potential impacts from sound pollution.
·
Education
and Outreach:
Increasing public awareness, educating the public on things they can do to
help, and improving the reporting’s of Southern Resident killer whales.
·
Response
to Sick, Stranded, or Injured Whales: Working to improve response to sick or injures whales, and to determine
health risks and causes of death.
·
Research
and Monitoring: Conducting research to continue to learn about these killer
whales to enhance conservation efforts.
 |
| Figure 5 - Happy Whale |
The
overall goal is to get these killer whales to have a healthy, self-sustaining population,
and take them off the ESA. For the whales to be delisted, the Southern Resident
killer whale population has to have an average growth of 2.3 percent per year
for 28 years, and the threats to the whale’s extinction must all be taken care
of.
All information was taken from National Marine Fisheries Service. 2008. Recovery Plan for Southern Resident Killer Whales. To learn more go to http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/whale_killer.pdf
Citations:
National Marine Fisheries Service. 2008. Recovery Plan for Southern Resident Killer Whales (Orcinus orca). National Marine Fisheries Service, Northwest Region, Seattle, Washington.
Image Sources:
Figure 1 - http://www.gowhales.com/PhotoGalleries/KillerWhales/pages/80330KillerWhaleLeapDB.htm
http://www.hww.ca/en/wildlife/mammals/killer-whale.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/
Figure 3-
http://www.viajadora.com/blackfish-seaworld/
Figure 4 -
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/10/gulf-oil-spill/bourne-text
http://www.takepart.com/photos/6-ways-rescue-killer-whales-captive
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