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This page was last modified May 11, 2012

Orca News Archives

Navy raises sonar impact on dolphins, whales dramatically
May 11, 2012 (MSNBC)
New Navy estimates showing many more dolphins, whales and other marine mammals could be hurt by sonar off Hawaii and Southern California caused alarm among environmentalists on Friday. The Navy, for its part, emphasized those were worst-case estimates and that the numbers cover a much larger testing area than before.
The numbers are in the Navy's new draft environmental impact statement for exercises planned from 2014-2018. In it, the Navy says that, under its preferred alternative, sonar training and testing might unintentionally harm marine mammals 2.8 million times a year over five years.
"The numbers are staggering and there is absolutely no corresponding mitigation to account for this harm," Zak Smith, an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, told msnbc.com.

Turkey dolphins finally released into the wild
May 10, 2012 (Wildlife Extra)
Rescued from death's door and the confines of a filthy festering ‘swimming pool' in Hisaronu, Turkey, and after nearly two years of careful care and preparation, two dolphins were finally set free when the gate to their sea pen was opened for the first time and the dolphins swam Back To The Blue.
The international team of marine mammal experts from the US, UK and Turkey, led by Jeff Foster, masterminded the release every inch of the way. Jeff said, "Twenty months of intensive rehab work looks like they have paid off! Tom and Misha are looking great. We took two dolphins with perhaps only weeks to live and brought them back to full health and fitness, worked to teach them the essential skills required for survival, such as catching live fish from the local seas which they now hunt enthusiastically. In my experience, if any former captive dolphins can make it back in the wild where they belong then Tom and Misha can."

New Navy study says use of sonar, explosives may hurt more marine mammals than once thought
May 10, 2012 (Washington Post)
The U.S. Navy may hurt more dolphins and whales by using sonar and explosives in Hawaii and California under a more thorough analysis that reflects new research and covers naval activities in a wider area than previous studies.
The Navy estimates its use of explosives and sonar may unintentionally cause more than 1,600 instances of hearing loss or other injury to marine mammals each year, according to a draft environmental impact statement that covers training and testing planned from 2014 to 2019. The Navy calculates the explosives could potentially kill more than 200 marine mammals a year.
The larger numbers are partially the result of the Navy’s use of new research on marine mammal behavior and updated computer models that predict how sonar affects animals.
The Navy also expanded the scope of its study to include things like in-port sonar testing — something sailors have long done but wasn’t analyzed in the Navy’s last environmental impact statement. The analysis covers training and testing in waters between Hawaii and California for the first time as well.

Built-in Ear Plugs: Whales May Turn Down Their Hearing Sensitivity When Warned of an Impending Loud Noise
May 8, 2012 (Newswise)
Now researchers have discovered that whales may protect their ears by lowering their hearing sensitivity when warned of an imminent loud sound.
“We think – based on much of our echolocation work – that it is much more than a simple reflex,” he says.

Finding answers to complex orca-salmon connection
May 8, 2012 (Watching Our Waterways)
Once you begin to challenge the assumptions — as a seven-member scientific panel has done — a more complex picture emerges. It is not easy to sort out predator-prey interactions, especially considering that the prey may include hundreds of individual salmon stocks, some of which are doing quite well.
The independent panel (PDF 144 kb), made up of U.S. and Canadian scientists, tackled the question of whether cutbacks or elimination of salmon fishing could help rebuild the killer whale population at a faster rate. The panel’s preliminary conclusion is that reducing fisheries could have a slight benefit, but only if certain assumptions hold true.

Judge dismisses suit to free orca from captivity
May 7, 2012 (Seattle Times)
Judge Benjamin H. Settle last week ruled that orca activists who sued the federal government didn't give proper notice and failed to state a valid claim. He granted motions by the government and Seaquarium to dismiss the case.

Speculation continues over unsafe sonar practices
May 7, 2012 (Islands Sounder)
Councilwoman Lovel Pratt charged that of 60 local whale deaths documented over the past 15 years, only 35 would be expected from natural causes. During this same time frame, Pratt said, the Navy detonated an estimated 150 bombs in local waters as part of its training exercises.
Because southern Puget Sound orcas are an endangered species, no killing – accidental or not – is permitted, and non-lethal contacts are severely restricted. The death of even one whale from testing or training could be a major impediment to the Navy's authorization and permitting process.

Summer Fun or Slick Stunts at SeaWorld?
May 4, 2012 (Hightower Report)
Based in Orlando, Fla., this giant outfit pocketed record profits of $380 million last year, but paid zero taxes on it.
This is because SeaWorld is owned by Blackstone Group, a multibillion-dollar private-equity giant that specializes in acrobatic accounting and spectacular twistings of our tax laws.

Navy Representatives Openly Discussed Bombing Activities in the Marine Sanctuary
May 1, 2012 (Candace Whiting blog)
Below is a partial recording of the Navy’s direct response to the San Juan Council’s inquiries: Answering the Council’s questions is John Moser, project manager for the environmental impact statement (eis) of the Northwest Training and Testing project.

Fatty Ears May Help Baleen Whales Hear
April 17, 2012 (Live Science)
This is the first study to describe the fat beside the ears as a potential sound reception pathway for baleen whales, Yamato and colleagues write in a study published online April 10 in the journal The Anatomical Record.

Whalefest a whale of a time
April 8, 2012 (Juneau Empire)
The Prince of Wales Whalefest and Beachcombers Fun Fair was held March 30 through April 1 and was a great success. The annual event, a part of the Out in the Rain program of outdoors activities, had approximately 600 people participate in a series of events on Prince of Wales Island.
Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer, an internationally known oceanographer, spoke at area schools and at a public presentation about marine debris and the Japanese tsunami.
Howard Garrett, a whale researcher from Washington, spoke about Orca (killer whale) behavior and culture.
They spoke to approximately 250 students at area schools over the course of the week, and about 225 people in the public presentations at the Craig High School Auditorium.
About 80 people went out on the water Saturday morning to watch whales from fishing vessels and kayaks near Klawock. The whales, sea lions, herring, eagles and other sea birds cooperated by putting on a great show for all who were able to come out.
Approximately 30 people participated in a beach cleanup on Sunday morning, with Dr. Ebbesmeyer present to interpret found objects. Debris was found with Japanese markings, but it could not be conclusively said it was a product of the tsunami. One lucky man from Craig found a glass fishing float as he cleaned the beach on St. Ignace Island.
This event would not have been possible without the work of a dedicated group of volunteers, including boat skippers and artists, and generous donations from the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council (SEACC), the Quality Schools/Quality Students program of the Alaska Association of School Boards, the City of Craig and many others.
SEACC and the US Forest Service have partnered to present a series of recreational opportunities on Prince of Wales Island. The program, “Out in the Rain,” brings people together to do something fun in the woods or waters that surround our communities, and gain a greater appreciation for the natural world. For more information on Whalefest, contact Bob Claus of SEACC at 755-2321 or Victoria Houser with the U.S. Forest Service at 826-1614.

Robert Barron: Killer whales need our protection
April 7, 2012 (Oregon Public Radio)
Officials are investigating the controversial death of a young female orca from a pod of the endangered mammals in Puget Sound. The orca washed up near Washington’s Long Beach in February.
Preliminary reports suggest the whale suffered extensive hemorrhaging in the soft tissues of the chest, head and right side of her body.
That has some orca experts suspecting the injuries may be from an underwater explosion or other human activity.
Now, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Law Enforcement has launched an investigation.

Robert Barron: Killer whales need our protection
March 24, 2012 (Nanaimo Daily News editorial)
It appears that the threeyearold female orca, which was a member of L-pod, a endangered group that lives in Canadian waters during the summer months, may have been killed in an explosion during military exercises that were being carried out in the area by the Canadian and American navies.
A necropsy found the marine mammal died from highly unusual injuries.
"The entire body showed evidence of massive blunt trauma, some sort of pressure wave that was very blunt in nature and not the pointed bow of a ship or anything," said Ken Balcomb, senior scientist at the Center for Whale Research at Friday Harbour, Washington.
Balcomb suspects the animal was killed by an explosive device, one of 96 the U.S. Navy deployed in the area in 2011.
Balcomb said he's worried that ongoing naval exercises could wipe out entire pods, including the fewer than 90 orcas that make up the endangered resident population in the southern end of the Strait of Georgia and in Juan de Fuca Strait.

Could young orca have been 'blown up' by navy?
March 23, 2012 (Pete Thomas Outdoors)
Ken Balcomb, director of the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, Wash., has implied that sonar alone could not have caused such extensive damage. The researcher is quoted in the San Juan Journal as saying, "Clearly the animal was blown up."
Balcomb, in Canada's CBC News, explained that the blunt force trauma did not appear to have been caused by the bow of a ship and added that he suspects the orca was killed by an explosive device deployed by the U.S. Navy during training exercises.
"I suspect she died in U.S. waters. And probably from an explosion," said Balcomb, who is hoping a National Marine Fisheries Service investigation will provide more insight into recent naval activities. "We're seeking information about what explosions at least the navy would be aware of."
The U.S. Navy has denied using explosives in the area in February.

Details of live-fire exercises requested after orca killed
March 23, 2012 (Vancouver Sun)
The U.S. and Canadian navies are being asked to hand over details of live fire exercises and sonar use around southern Vancouver Island and Puget Sound in February, when an endangered southern resident killer whale died.
Ken Balcomb, senior scientist with the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, Washington, believes three-year-old L112, also known as Sooke, was killed by an explosion — and said she may not be the only fatality.
“She always swam very close to her mother and brother, and not too far away from her aunt and cousin,” said Balcomb, who was present at an on-beach necropsy, but is not part of the team of U.S. and Canadian scientists examining tissue from the whale, which washed up near Long Beach, Washington, on Feb. 11.
“It’s probable that other animals were killed,” Balcomb said.
Military bombs are regularly dropped in Juan de Fuca Strait and sonar and live fire exercises are common, Balcomb said.

Mystery of orca’s death only deepens with new info
March 22, 2012 (Watching Our Waterways)
“It is baffling to demographers why this (Southern Resident) population is doing so poorly compared to the northern population,” Ken told me. “Something weird is going on, and that’s a consensus.
“In the early days, Mike Bigg (a Canadian orca researcher) and I were amazed that females seemed to be immortal. We just didn’t have many female deaths, and it was clearly related to their long life spans.”
The story has changed over the past 35 years, Ken said, and the number of recent deaths of females is driving the species closer to extinction.
Ken is clearly worried. Years ago, he would not have been so outspoken. I recall when Ken was a typically reserved, cautious scientist. But actions taken to shift environmental factors in favor of the orcas have been slow or nonexistent. Meanwhile, the future of these killer whales — a genetically distinct population — still hangs in the balance.

Whale death leads to call for ban on navy exercises
March 22, 2012 (Victoria Times Colonist)
An initial necropsy showed L112, also known as Sooke, died of "significant trauma," but scientists who took part in the necropsy said it was unlikely the whale had been struck by a vessel or attacked by another whale.
A CT scan and virology, contaminant and bacteriological analyses are being conducted, but conclusive results may not be available for several months.
However, Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, Washington, believes that Sooke's death was the result of naval activity, and that the orca may have been blown up.

Killer whale possibly killed by U.S. military explosion
March 22, 2012 (CBC)
Some U.S. scientists believe a killer whale that washed up off the coast of Washington last month might have been killed by a military explosion.
The three-year-old female orca was a member of L-pod, a group that lives in Canadian waters during the summer months.
The killer whale's carcass washed ashore at Long Beach, Wash., Feb. 11.
A necropsy found the marine mammal died from highly unusual injuries.
"The entire body showed evidence of massive blunt trauma, some sort of pressure wave that was very blunt in nature not the pointed bow of a ship or anything," said Ken Balcomb, senior scientist at the Center for Whale Research at Friday Harbour, Wash., about 15 kilometres east of Victoria.
Balcomb suspects the animal was killed by an explosive device, one of 96 the U.S. Navy deployed in the area in 2011.
"I suspect she died in U.S. waters. And probably from an explosion," Balcomb said. "We're seeking information about what explosions at least the navy would be aware of."
He said he's worried that ongoing naval exercises could wipe out entire pods, including the fewer than 90 orcas that make up the endangered resident population in the southern end of Georgia Strait and in Juan de Fuca Strait, between Vancouver Island and Washington's Olympic Peninsula.
"Chances are some other whales got killed too," said Balcomb.

Orca Death
March 21, 2012 (CHEK News Video)

'Draconian' chinook cuts loom for anglers
March 17, 2012 (Victoria Times Colonist)
Fishermen in Greater Victoria are reeling after being told the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is looking at "draconian" restrictions on the summer chinook salmon fishery in Juan de Fuca Strait.
Members of the Victoria-South Island Sport Fishing Advisory Board and industry representatives, who took part in a conference call with DFO Friday, say plans to further restrict or even close the chinook fishery in the peak season of June, July and August could cause the collapse of the southern Vancouver Island sports fishing industry.

Rare whale passing near Island festival
March 16, 2012 (Victoria Times Colonist)
Varvara thought to be headed home.
Varvara, a rare western gray whale, is speeding up the west coast, probably on her way home to Russia's Sakhalin Island.
The nine-year-old female was near the Washington-B.C. border Friday, travelling north at a speed of about 160 kilometres a day, which should get her to Tofino in time for the whale festival, which runs until March 25.
"There's great interest in Varvara's journey in Tofino," said Jim Darling, a director of the Pacific Wildlife Foundation.

Elwha River back in its natural channel; first time in a century
March 16, 2012 (Seattle Times)
At 7:30 Friday morning, contractors started shifting the Elwha River back into its natural channel. Within four to five days, the river will be fully back in its native channel -- for the first time in a century.
Within four to five weeks, the final draw down of Lake Aldwell, the reservoir behind Elwha Dam, will also be complete -- and the dam, and its reservoir, will be history.
Barb Maynes, spokeswoman for Olympic National Park, said Glines Canyon Dam could be down ahead of schedule, too. Once forecast to take up to three years, nobody thinks the dam removal project will take that long anymore. Glines may be gone as soon as June of 2013.
Monitoring of out-migrating smolts, or baby salmon by the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe so far shows that the young fish headed to salt water this season have been unaffected by elevated levels of sediment in the river, said Mike McHenry, habitat biologist for the tribe. Chinook, chum, and pink salmon found in the smolt trap maintained in the lower river by the tribe all look normal, McHenry said.

Death at sea: speculation swirls over sonar
March 14, 2012 (San Juan Journal)
With a body of evidence still under scrutiny, local biologists remain guarded about whether the recent death of a 3-year-old killer whale is the result of unnatural causes.
But some local killer whale experts are drawing their own conclusions.
“It didn’t die of disease or starvation,” Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research said of the young female killer whale, known as L112 at the center. “Clearly the animal was blown up.”
Balcomb, director of the San Juan Island-based killer whale research center, contends that the signs of trauma on the body and on the head and, more importantly, among the tissues in the rear of the killer whale’s jaw are strikingly similar to the injuries that he witnessed in a group of stranded beaked whales several years ago in the Bahamas. He said those whales stranded themselves on a beach shortly after a military ship traveling in the same vicinity passed by with its sonar engaged.
“Basically it’s what happens when you blow up the head of a whale,” Balcomb said of L112 injuries.
The body of L112, also known as “Sooke” was found on a beach just north of Long Beach, Wash., on Feb. 11. Its body was battered, bloodied and bruised, and biologists estimate it had been dead several days at the most. Sooke was a member of the Southern resident killer whales, which make their seasonal home in the San Juans and were declared endanagered under federal law in 2005.

Sonar testing raises whale worries
March 13, 2012 (Everett Herald)
Whale watchers and tour-boat operators are concerned about the effect the latest round of sonar testing at Naval Station Everett could have on marine mammals.
A loud "pinging" sound has been heard on board several different boats in the area, including the Mukilteo-Clinton ferry, over the past week and a half.
"It's disturbing, it's very disturbing," said Susan Berta, co-founder of the Orca Network in Greenbank.
The testing was first heard Feb. 29 and has been heard several times since. It originated on the USS Shoup, a destroyer stationed at Naval Station Everett, said Sheila Murray, a spokeswoman for the Northwest region of the U.S. Navy.
The testing has been done on and off for years but is relatively infrequent and only takes place with special permission of the Pacific fleet commander in Hawaii, she said.
Howard Garrett of the Orca Network said he heard the sound onboard a boat with others in Possession Sound on Wednesday. The group put a hydrophone -- a device used for listening to sounds from underwater -- into the sound and connected it to a microphone.
"It still hurts my ears," Garrett said the next day, adding that the volume was turned all the way down. "They slowly ramped up and lengthened the duration" of the pings over about three hours, roughly from 2 to 5 p.m., he said.
The group also saw at least one gray whale -- he's not sure if it was the same one seen twice or two separate whales, Garrett said.
At first, the sonar showed no apparent effect on the whale, which seemed to be feeding in the water near Tulalip Bay, he said. When the sonar grew louder after about 20 minutes, though, the whale turned and swam north toward Port Susan, Garrett said.

Navy's Northwest Range faces federal lawsuit
March 10, 2012 (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
Earthjustice, an environmental law firm, and the Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit Jan. 25 on behalf of six environmental groups, including the People For Puget Sound, challenging the Navy’s underwater warfare training exercises in the Northwest Training Range.
"The area where the Navy trains includes the Dabob Bay Range Complex Site on Hood Canal and the Quinault Underwater Tracking Range Site situated along the Pacific Coast in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. The lawsuit focuses on the Quinault range which was expanded to 38 times its original size within the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary in 2011.
'Olympic Coast was designated as a sanctuary and should be off limits,' Boyles said. She added that the increased frequency and intensity in the Navy’s training in that area since 2010 is 'a big issue'."

If One Orca Whale Was Blown Out of the Water, How Many More Died?
March 10, 2012 (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
These whales are familiar to those who live in the Pacific Northwest – the orcas spend much of the summer in the inland waters of the southern Salish Sea, and cruise down to the Seattle area in the fall. They swim close to shore and up to our boats, and we know them all by name or number. They have received endangered status and as such are highly protected as well as highly cherished, but their population hovers below 90 total, stubbornly refusing to grow. Some years they are thin and suffer from a shortage of salmon, but this year have appeared to be robust, signalling that they are finding fish (these whales never eat marine mammals).
I wonder, now, as I look at the graph and the map – are we struggling to save them with one hand, and destroying them with the other? Could it be that with all the sophisticated sonar systems the Navy uses for security that they can’t locate a pod of whales? Or perhaps a curious young whale explored the wrong thing…

Another sonar incident in Puget Sound
March 2, 2012 (San Juan Islander)
A letter signed by 16 regional scientists and sent to leaders on both sides of the border March 1 asking for silencing of military sonar in the Salish Sea was especially timely as another sonar incident occurred on February 29. Washington State Ferries Operations Center called the Whale Museum to report ferry workers and passengers on the Clinton-Mukilteo route heard sonar sounds above water. More information about the incident is available here.
The open letter was motivated by the Feb 6, 2012, use of sonar by the Canadian Navy in U.S. critical habitat of the endangered southern resident killer whales, and the observation 36 hours later of southern residents in Discovery Bay where they had never before been sighted.
The letter signed by scientists who research killer whales is posted below.

Turn It Down: How Human Noise Is Disturbing the Whales
March 1, 2012 (Time Magazine)
The residents of California’s Santa Monica Bay have some rather noisy neighbors—and they’re not happy about it. That is the conclusion of a new study which shows that blue whales feeding off the coast of California stop calling to each other when a nearby naval base powers up its sonar for training exercises.
It’s not exactly news that sonar can disturb whales. What’s different about this study, conducted by a team from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego for the journal PLoS One, is that it shows an underwater sound outside a baleen whale’s vocalization range can still affect its calling behavior. (Baleen whales – which include the blue, humpback and right — emit deep bass notes well below the ping of sonar.) Because the endangered blue whale may depend on communication to keep its family group together and alert them to the presence of food, the effects of that sonar are a serious concern.