Puget Sound orca pods lose 3
Experts believe missing adult whales may have died of starvation
Three of the 90 orcas that call Puget Sound home are missing and presumed dead, researchers said Tuesday. At least two had shown signs of starvation.
Although it's fairly common for young orcas to perish, the deaths of three adults in or near their reproductive prime is worrisome, researchers said. It's also much more common for whales to die in the winter, when food is scarce, rather than in the usually abundant summer.
"This is very important," said Kelley Balcomb-Bartok of the Center for Whale Research on San Juan Island. "This isn't one of those baby whales gone missing."
One of the dead, a 12-year-old female known as K-28 and as Raven, leaves behind a still-nursing, 4- month-old calf that is now unlikely to survive, researchers said.
"When you're losing a breeding female at the beginning of the reproductive years, that's very significant," Balcomb-Bartok said. "She could have easily added three to four more calves to the population."
The three whale pods that frequent Puget Sound and the waters around the San Juan Islands have been slowly rebuilding since their numbers were greatly reduced by captures for aquariums in the 1960s and '70s. That practice was banned in 1977.
But two other factors have combined to frustrate rebuilding of the orcas' population: a declining amount of their favorite food, salmon; and the continued buildup of industrial chemicals that affect reproduction and the immune system and are believed to make the orcas hungry and weak.
The first orca to disappear this year was a 20-year-old male known as L71, or Hugo. He was last seen July 15. A picture taken of the whale the day before showed he "was in a very thin condition," equivalent to a person's ribs sticking out, said Rich Osborne, director of The Whale Museum in Friday Harbor.
At 20, Hugo had just entered the height of his reproductive years.
In that respect, "they're just like people," said Ken Balcomb, director of the Center for Whale Research.
On Sept. 2, a 34-year-old mother of three known as L-43 or Jellyroll was spotted for the last time. The orcas headed out to the Pacific Ocean for several weeks. She hasn't been seen since. She also had a calf, although he is 2 years old and is probably weaned.
The third missing orca, Raven, was last spotted Sept. 19. The area behind her blowhole that normally stores fat was depressed, a condition known as "peanut head" that is attributed to a loss of calories.
Reports coming into the Orca Network, which follows the orcas' movements, indicate they are having trouble finding enough salmon, said Susan Berta, the group's vice president.
When salmon are plentiful, the whales tend to travel close together, she said. But this year's sightings revealed the whales as spread out, indicating they were foraging and food supplies are short, she said.
While that happens to some degree every year, it's been more common in 2006, Berta said. Combined with the reports about Raven and Hugo, it adds up to a bad year for salmon hunting, she surmised.
The starvation theory matches the experiences of local salmon fishermen, who have complained that 2006 was a terrible year.
"It's a degree of starvation that is very disturbing," Berta said. "It's a scary thing. How many more are we going to lose over the winter?"
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Puget Sound orca pods lose 3
