Saving Seafood

Conservationists Say Salmon Fishing Plan Imperils Whales

March 19, 2020 — The government allowed salmon fishing in Alaska at rates its own reports said will push endangered Southern Resident killer whales closer to extinction, environmental groups claim in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

Salmon born in the rivers and streams of Oregon, Washington state and British Columbia migrate to the Pacific Ocean and through the Gulf of Alaska, home to a major troll fishing fleet. In southeast Alaska, 97% of the Chinook salmon fishermen harvest were born elsewhere. The fish they take never make it back to their home waters, where they could have been dinner for the 72 remaining Southern Resident killer whales – a genetically distinct group of orca that are starving due to a lack of their main prey.

“It is reckless and irresponsible for NOAA to approve this harvest, these salmon don’t belong to Alaska, they belong to Southern Resident killer whales, indigenous peoples, and fishing communities down the coast,” Kurt Beardslee, Wild Fish Conservancy’s executive director, said Wednesday in a press release.

Read the full story at the Courthouse News Service

Council Urges Reopening of Fishing Grounds Based on New False Killer Whale Study

March 12, 2020 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

A new study indicates that the pelagic stock of false killer whales around the Hawaiian Islands may be healthier than previously thought. Amanda Bradford of NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center presented the research yesterday to the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, which has authority over fisheries in the US exclusive economic zone (EEZ, i.e., generally 3 to 200 miles offshore) of Hawai‘i and other US islands and territories in the Pacific. The Council is meeting this week in Honolulu.

In light of the new population estimates, the Council yesterday asked the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to explore reopening the Southern Exclusion Zone (SEZ), a 132,000-square-mile area spanning the entire EEZ south of the main Hawaiian Islands. Since 2012, the SEZ is closed to the Hawai‘i longline fishery when it interacts with two pelagic false killer whales that result in a mortality and serious injury determination by NMFS. The closed SEZ leaves only 17.8 percent of the EEZ around the Hawaiian Islands open to the fishery.

When the SEZ was implemented, the estimated population size of pelagic false killer whales allowed a maximum of nine individuals from the stock to be removed by means other than natural mortalities. Above that number could impair the stock’s ability to reach or maintain its optimum sustainable population, it was determined. The new estimates may indicate a need to modify that number.

The Council meeting continues today and tomorrow at the YWCA Fuller Hall, 1040 Richards St., Honolulu, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. To participate by web conference: Go to https://wprfmc.webex.com/join/info.wpcouncilnoaa.gov. For more information on the meeting, go to www.wpcouncil.org/meetings-calendars, email info@wpcouncil.org or call (808) 522-8220.

Lawsuit targets Alaska salmon management to protect southern killer whales

January 27, 2020 — A conservation organization based in Washington state is threatening to sue the federal government over the management of Alaska’s chinook salmon fisheries.

The Wild Fish Conservancy claims that management strategies in Alaska approved by the government pose a threat to the survival of several salmon runs in Washington, and the killer whales who depend on them.

The Wild Fish Conservancy filed notice on January 9, stating its intentions to sue the National Marine Fisheries Service for violating the Endangered Species Act, and jeopardizing the existence of southern resident killer whales.

The Conservancy argues that an important food supply of the whales — endangered stocks of chinook salmon originating in Puget Sound, the lower Columbia River, the Willamette River, and Snake River — is being depleted by the commercial troll and sport harvest in Southeast Alaska.

Kurt Beardslee is the director of the Wild Fish Conservancy. Chinook — or king salmon — are managed under treaty between the United States and Canada, overseen by the Pacific Salmon Commission.

Read the full story at KNBA

Studies give insight on plight of orca whales

December 30, 2019 — Two studies and a state report released this month build on the efforts to understand what’s impacting the region’s endangered Southern Resident orca whales and what steps could be taken to help save them.

Researchers and wildlife managers have for years suggested that the Southern Resident orcas, which spend several months of the year in the Salish Sea and coastal waters of Washington, are struggling to find large, nutrient-rich chinook salmon to eat.

Studies recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggest the Southern Resident orcas are competing with other fish-eating orca populations of the North Pacific Ocean and that orca calves born to families without grandmothers have a lesser chance of finding chinook to eat and surviving to adulthood.

Meanwhile, a draft state report released Dec. 20 concludes it’s not clear whether a move long called for by environment and wildlife groups – to remove dams on the lower Snake River – would significantly boost the number of fish available to the region’s orcas.

Removing four dams on the lower Snake River in southeast Washington, where it curves from the Idaho border toward the Oregon border, could improve conditions in the river system for salmon, according to the report.

Read the full story at The Spokesman-Review

Nearly $670,000 in grants will help endangered orcas

November 21, 2019 — Nearly $670,000 in conservation grants will go toward the recovery of endangered Southern Resident killer whales, also known as orca whales.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and its partners made the announcement at an event Wednesday.

NFWF said the grants will generate $610,600 in matching contributions for a total of more than $1.2 million.

Though the 74 orcas eat salmon and other fish, they prefer Chinook salmon, which recent research showed are having low survival rates in early stages of life.  Because fewer fish are making it to the ocean, there are fewer fish of the size that killer whales need to feed, NFWF said.

NFWF said six grants announced Wednesday will support projects throughout the food chain and help habitat that’s important to both young Chinook and their prey.

In addition to the grants, a public campaign supported by the Killer Whale Recovery and Conservation Program and its partners  – “Be Whale Wise” – will help educate local boaters about how they can better protect orcas.

Read the full story at KIRO

Feds Propose PNW Habitat Protections For Orcas And Humpback Whales

November 7, 2019 — Federal wildlife regulators are proposing to designate large swaths of the Pacific Ocean off Oregon, Washington and California as critical habitat for endangered humpback whales and orcas.

One of the habitat designations is specifically for Southern Resident Killer Whales, which spend about half the year in the Salish Sea north of Seattle. They feed on salmon. There are fewer than 80 of these orcas remaining.

The National Marine Fisheries Service is also proposing two critical habitat areas for two distinct groups of humpback whales that breed off the coast of Mexico and Central America. The new habitat designation covers the Pacific Northwest feeding grounds of the whales.

If finalized, the designation would provide an extra level of protection that would require any federally permitted project to consider impacts to the whale habitat.

“That’s anything from an Army Corps of Engineers permit for construction in water to a Navy sonar testing or training activity or NOAA doing a federal approval for a fishery,” said Lynne Barre, recovery coordinator for the NOAA Fisheries Southern Resident Killer Whale program.

Read the full story at OPB

New drone, underwater footage of orcas stuns researchers, gives intimate look at killer whales’ family life

November 6, 2019 — Who knew orcas were so playful, so full of affection, so constantly touching one another?

New footage taken by drone as well as underwater stunned researchers who spent two days with the southern resident orca J pod off the British Columbia coast, including with the newest baby, and more time with northern resident killer whales in B.C.’s Johnstone Strait. The footage taken during three weeks in August and early September was filmed in collaboration with the Hakai Institute, a science research nonprofit.

“It took our breath away,” said Andrew Trites, professor at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries Department of Zoology and director of the Marine Mammal Research Unit at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Trites is co-lead researcher on a study that over five years is taking a close look at resident killer whales and their prey.

The drone footage was gathered non-invasively, with the camera hundreds of feet above the whales, who did not seem to even know it was there, Trites said. Combined with underwater microphones, tracking devices used to follow adult chinook, and underwater footage, a spectacular new look into orcas and their day-to-day life in the wild is emerging.

The big standout so far is just how much the orcas touch one another, something not as visible from a boat.

Read the full story at The Seattle Times

NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region Commends Work of Washington State’s Killer Whale Task Force

October 22, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region commends Governor Inslee for convening the Task Force on Southern Resident Killer Whales and the Task Force co-chairs, members, and working groups for crafting a broad package of recovery recommendations for this signature Washington species. As a member of the Task Force and the Federal lead for recovery, NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region appreciated the opportunity to discuss this critical issue through a robust public process and looks forward to pursuing actions together that will support recovery of Southern Resident killer whales and their salmon prey.

The Task Force recommendations supplement and complement NOAA Fisheries’ 2008 Recovery Plan for Southern Residents with thoughtful and effective actions that address the three main threats to the whales: lack of prey, vessel traffic and noise, and contaminants. The Task Force recommendations also draw from and support the long-term recovery programs for Chinook salmon, the primary prey for the whales. NOAA Fisheries has helped lay groundwork for some of the recommendations through research on each of the threats and critical grant programs, such as the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund which supports habitat restoration and Endangered Species Act grants which fund enforcement of vessel regulations by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The Governor’s Task Force has helped focus public attention and energy on Southern Resident recovery when it is so urgently needed. We look forward to continuing this important collaboration with the State, tribes, Task Force, and public to implement these recommendations as soon as possible.

Read the full release here

Southern Resident Killer Whale Workgroup to meet via Webinar October 29, 2019

October 8, 2019 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (Pacific Council)  Ad Hoc Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) Workgroup (Workgroup) will meet via webinar, and this meeting will be open to the public.  The  webinar meeting will be held on Tuesday, October  29, 2019, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT), or until business for the day has been completed.  This is a public meeting and not a public hearing.  Public comments will be taken at the discretion of the Workgroup co-chairs as time allows.

Please see the SRKW Workgroup Webinar Notice on the Council’s website for participation details.

For further information:

  • Please contact Pacific Fishery Management Council staff officer Ms. Robin Ehlke  at 503-820-2410; toll-free 1-866-806-7204.

In California, orcas and salmon have become so scarce people have forgotten what once was. Will the Northwest be next?

September 30, 2019 — If there is a hell for salmon, it probably looks like this.

There were many more golf balls in the water than salmon this summer, whacked there by enthusiasts at Aqua Golf, a driving range on the bank of the Sacramento River.

Below the surface, the gravel salmon need to make their nests had been mined decades ago to build Shasta Dam, 602 feet tall and with no fish passage. The dam cut off access to all of the cold mountain waters where these fish used to spawn.

The hillsides above the river were blackened by wildfire. Houses, instead of forests, stood along the banks. Cars roared by on Interstate 5 as temperatures soared to 105 degrees.

Read the full story at The Seattle Times