By Quinn McVeigh
In 2021, more whales were seen in the Salish Sea than ever before, spelling hopes for Bigg’s killer whales, humpbacks and even the endangered southern resident killer whale.
The Salish Sea, an inland sea surrounded by the lush douglas-fir forests of Washington’s the San Juan Islands, Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, was home to 1,067 unique whale sightings in 2021, around 300 more than the previous record set in 2019.
According to Erin Gless, the executive director for the Pacific Whale Watch Association, over 1,000 of these sightings were Bigg’s killer whales.
“When we say a unique sighting, it’s not like, I’m standing next to you on the beach and we count as two sightings,” Gless said. “One group of whales for the entire day is a single sighting and there were more than 1,000 of those.”
On some days, people would witness up to 50 individual whales. Even in this situation, a grouping of 50 individual whales would be classified as one sighting.
There were 21 humpback whale baby sightings in 2021, a number unrivalled by any year since commercial whaling eradicated their Salish Sea population a century ago. Gless attributes this to their federal protection under the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act.
To continue this progress for humpbacks, Jessica Scott, senior manager for the Whales Initiative at Ocean Wise, said there must be education for boaters on how to avoid crashing into them. Humpbacks tend to spend a lot of time at the water’s surface compared to other whale species. Increasing humpback populations are causing more vessel strikes, which can be fatal for both whales and humans.
“When they see a blow, go slow,” Scott said.
For the endangered southern resident killer whale, 2021 was both bad and good news.
Southern resident killer whales were only present in the Salish Sea for 103 days during 2021, fewer days than ever before. However, the abundance of other whale species in the Salish Sea provides reassurance that the habitat is suitable and safe for them, Gless said.
“The reason that it’s so important to talk about all the other whales that are doing well is that they share the exact same habitat,” Gless said. “They’re swimming in the exact same water, it’s the same amount of boats that they’re around, the same amount of toxicants that are in the water.”
Boats and toxic pollution are two of the major threats to whale populations today. For example, one-third of all whale deaths in the Atlantic Ocean are caused by vessel strikes, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.
For southern resident killer whales, boats inhibit survival because of noise pollution. This is because they use echolocation to find prey. Whales use echolocation by producing clicking noises that echo back when they bounce off of other animals. This allows them to locate prey with extraordinary accuracy.
“When it’s a very noisy environment from constant ship noise, it’s hard for them to hear the echoes,” said Lance Barrett-Lennard, a research scientist with Raincoast Conservation Foundation.
In the Salish Sea, however, we now see that toxicants and boats are not the main threats affecting southern resident killer whales. So, Gless said, this helps us narrow in on what the primary issue for southern residents likely is: lack of salmon.
The other whale species in the Salish Sea, which don’t specialize in salmon, have enough food. Southern resident killer whales, which must eat 18-25 adult salmon per day, do not.
Some salmon species in the Salish Sea, including Chinook salmon, coho and steelhead, “have experienced up to tenfold declines in survival during the marine phase of their lifecycle, and their total abundance remains well below what it was 40 years ago,” according to the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project.
A report produced by the organization found that a changing food supply and predation were the two main factors fueling the decline. The threat of changing food supply arose out of changing weather, temperature, and nutritional conditions which limit phytoplankton, zooplankton, and herring, the main diet of these salmon. The threat of excessive predation arose out of burgeoning harbour seal populations.
Climate change may exacerbate salmon loss. It could change the composition of salmon prey, intensify harmful algal blooms which starve the water of oxygen and increase the impacts of disease and contaminants, the report said.
Addressing salmon decline goes hand-in-hand with addressing southern resident killer whale decline. According to Gless, there is not a straightforward answer for how to do this.
“There are a lot of people that depend on salmon, you have commercial fishing, you have recreational fishing, you have tribal fishing, you have a lot of other animals that eat salmon, so it’s been tough,” Gless said.
But the number-one piece of action people can take to increase the salmon populations that feed southern resident killer whales is supporting habitat restoration projects, Gless said. For example, people can financially, physically or vocally support projects that eliminate shoreline infrastructure impeding salmon habitat.
About The Author
Quinn McVeigh is a recent University of Arizona graduate who earned his degree in journalism and environmental studies. He is an Arizona native whose road trips to the beaches of California during his time in college and discovery of ocean-related issues through his studies piqued his interest in ocean journalism and conservation. In the future, Quinn hopes to work with environmental issues through nonprofit, government or news organizations.
This piece was prepared online by Panuruji Kenta, Publisher, SEVENSEAS Media