Orca Network News Network

Researchers lose track of rescued killer whale

Last seen headed west – 'all reports are favorable'

By Stuart Elliott
© Peninsula Daily News

DUNGENESS -- Published Jan. 5, 2001 The young male killer whale rescued from Dungeness Spit has disappeared without a trace. Rescuers had attached a radio transmitter to the five-ton, 22-foot orca before releasing it Friday in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, following three days of attempts to coax the huge creature from the shallow waters of Dungeness Bay after it repeatedly beached itself near a dead female orca believed to be its mother. But the transmitter apparently failed to work properly, or the killer whale went somewhere where scientists cannot pick up the signals.

As of late Saturday, researchers had been unable to locate the killer whale. "The last we knew he was heading west to the Pacific," said National Marine Fisheries Service spokesman Brian Gorman. "He was swimming robustly, chugging along at around 6 or 7 knots," Gorman said. "All the reports were favorable."

When last seen, the male looked healthy, spraying from his blow hole, his sagging dorsal fin straightening. Meanwhile, scientists are making arrangements for more studies on the dead female orca after a necropsy Thursday failed to turn up an apparent cause of death. "Nothing obvious jumped out at us," said Brad Hanson of the National Marine Fisheries Service in Seattle on Friday. "Overall the animal looked pretty healthy."

Military sonar damage?
Researchers cut off female's head, which can be examined for damage by sonar. Environmentalists raised questions about whether military sonar might have caused or contributed to this week's beachings.

They filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Navy, seeking information about its operations around Puget Sound. Fred Felleman of Seattle-based Ocean Advocates, who is working with the San Francisco-based Earth Island Institute on the information request, pointed to a preliminary report released late last month in which the Navy acknowledged that sonar was the likely cause of the beaching of 16 whales and a dolphin in the Bahamas in March 2000. Seven of those whales died. However, the necropsy showed that female had a flaccid uterus, which suggests she had reproductive problems. Bacteria-laden seawater could have entered the uterus, leading to septicemia, or blood poisoning.

Where did he go?
Gorman said he couldn't confirm where the male orca went after scientists lost track of him Friday night. According to Gorman, the radio transmitter operates on a line-of-sight system. Scientists must be within a mile of the orca to pick up the signal. In addition, Gorman said, the transmitter was only designed to operate for about 24 hours. Scientists tracked the whale until about 4 p.m. Friday, but haven't been able to pick up a signal since. "That doesn't necessarily mean anything," Gorman said. "That could mean he's out of the area we expected him to be in, the transmitter malfunctioned or it fell off." All in all, Gorman said Fisheries officials are "very much relieved and very pleased" with the successful rescue. The drama began Wednesday when the dead female orca was spotted alongside the bay near Sequim. The male was lurking nearby in shallow water. He later beached himself no less than five times near the carcass of the dead female. The whales could be a mother and son because of his reluctance to leave, said Rich Osborne, research director of the Friday Harbor Whale Museum. In orca populations, first-born males are known to travel for years alongside their mothers. "It's a very close social bond," Osborne said. DNA samples taken from both animals are expected to reveal their relationship

Canvas sling
Officials from the Marine Fisheries Service, National Marine Mammal Lab, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and other agencies had tried for three days to free the killer whale. They feared the stranded orca would develop pneumonia, infections from cuts on its skin or simply lose the desire to eat. On Friday, rescuers used a special canvas sling, designed for large marine mammals, to successfully tow the orca from the shallow water near the base of Dungeness Spit at about 12:30 p.m. The harness was on loan from the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The sling replaced a makeshift harness system comprising thick rope and nets used Wednesday and Thursday — the killer whale repeatedly escaped from that rig during rescue attempts. Gorman said the male orca, believed to be 20 years old, appeared healthy as he was led out to the Strait, despite some reported scrapes and cuts on its belly apparently caused during the beachings.

Initially, the prognosis didn't look good Friday, Gorman said. "It was the first time we were seriously discussing putting the animal out," Gorman said. "Being (partially) out of water is not good for a marine mammal, and he had been out for 48 hours. "He was distressed and dehydrated," and there were problems with his blood chemistry, Gorman added.

Results in a week
At Port Williams, volunteers helped cut up the female's carcass for disposal as fertilizer at a Dungeness Valley farm. Tissue samples are being sent to a lab in Vancouver, British Columbia, Hanson said.
The tests will look at possible contaminants, like polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.
Dead orcas have been found with high amounts of PCBs and other ocean-carried pollutants. Preliminary results could be available in a week. The animal's head will likely be sent to a marine anatomy expert at Harvard University, Gorman said.
One factor scientists will look into will be the orca's echo-location system — their version of sonar used to navigate underwater and to find food. "It's possible something went wrong with that system," Gorman said. The fact the male killer whale appeared to do well after making it out of the shallow bay could also suggest the animals' echo-location systems may have been a factor, Gorman said.

Just confused
"We know that a principal cause of strandings is the confusion that sets in when they are in shallow water with strange topography," he said. "The fact that once we got it out, and it seemed to do fine, suggests it was possibly just confused." It still isn't clear why the whales entered Dungeness Bay in the first place, though it may have been to feed on seals, said Osborne. "There are stories of whales coming in and pulling seals off of Dungeness Spit," he said. "It's possible they were doing something like that." Seal flesh and bones were found in the female's body, leading some wildlife experts to speculate the pair may have been in the area for the food.

Transient orcas
The two orcas are believed to belong to a transient orca population of about 250 animals ranging from Washington state north to Alaska, eating otters, seals and sea lions — not members of the J, K or L pods of resident orcas that frequent the Strait and Puget Sound eating salmon and other fish.
Biologists are certain because they have photographs of the resident population, and the two do not match any of them. The transient population is large, unlike the resident population which decreased from 98 to about 78 animals in the 1990s. Both groups are contaminated by PCBs, an industrial product widely used in electrical equipment until the 1970s.
Levels are higher in the transient orcas because the seals and other marine mammals they eat are closer to the top of the food chain. Federal officials are considering a petition to protect the resident whales under the Endangered Species Act. "We get occasional strandings (of orcas) on the Oregon coast, and sometimes in southern Washington waters. But nobody here can remember a stranding in the Strait . . . and to have two of them is unprecedented," Gorman said. He said costs of the rescue operation were minimal. Agency staff members at the scene would be working anyway, so travel is the only additional expense, Gorman said.

'Sort of traumatic'
Scores of onlookers, many with binoculars, watched expectantly near the base of Dungeness Spit as four vessels carrying around a dozen scientists gathered close to the male for the successful rescue. Said John Boyd, a member of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe: "I've never seen a whale beach itself before. They have a big place in our tradition. This is sort of traumatic."
Scientists slipped the canvas sling — with a hole for its dorsal and pectoral fins — over the orca. A buoy was attached to its tail so it couldn't dive and break free again. Marine-mammal consultant Jeff Foster climbed on the orca's back to steady it. When the rescue effort cleared Graveyard Spit, which protrudes from the south side of Dungeness Spit, the crowd cheered.
"Dynamite," shouted Kevin Ryan, manager of the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge after getting the call about the progress of the whale. "They cleared Graveyard." Retired marine-mammal veterinarian Pete Schroeder watched with his head buried in a telescope and felt goose bumps rise on his neck. The orca had spent the night near his backyard dock. "That's it. He's going," Schroeder whispered. "Oh, that's so cool. That's so good. Go. Go."
The orca reached the edge of Dungeness Spit at around 1:30 p.m., where the sling was removed, Gorman said.
The male then headed west.