Rare whale strands in Puget Sound

Rare whale strands in Puget Sound
A highly unusual stranding of a tropical Bryde's whale occurred in southern Puget Sound this week and an examination was conducted by Cascadia Research, WDFW, and NOAA. The whale was first reported floating dead on Saturday, 16 January 2010 and temporarily came ashore a couple of locations in southern Puget Sound over the next couple of days. The whale was towed to a remote location (thanks to the help of Taylor Shellfish) and a detailed examination conducted on the afternoon of 19 January.
This species primarily uses warmer tropical waters and in the eastern North Pacific has not generally been seen north of southern California. It appears to have been in Puget Sound several weeks because there had been several puzzling sighting reports going back at least to the beginning of January of a live whale roughly meeting the description of this whale. This is the first confirmed sighting or stranding of this species in the Pacific Northwest that we are aware of.
The whale was just under 39 feet and appeared to be an immature whale. Examination showed it had what appeared to be some healed propeller scars on its back and a likely entanglement injury on its fluke but both these were not serious and did not appear to play a role in the whales death. The whale had no food in its stomach or intestines and so did not appear to have fed in a while. The blubber layer was very thin and did not have much oil in it suggesting starvation may have played a role and possible exposure to cold (due to the small blubber layer and colder waters than is typical habitat for this animal).
Because the whale had died very recently, the tissues were very fresh and allowed a very detailed examination and sample collection. This included samples for biotoxin analysis, disease screening, contaminant testing, genetics, and histo-pathology. These tests will be run over the coming months and may provide additional insight into what the animal was doing here and why it died.
More photos are on Cascadia Research's website here.

Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

Byrd Whale Dead in Puget Sound

Rare whale strands in Puget Sound

From the Cascadia Research site http://www.cascadiaresearch.org/Brydes%20stranding%20-%2019Jan%202010.htm

A highly unusual stranding of a tropical Bryde's whale occurred in southern Puget Sound this week and an examination was conducted by Cascadia Research, WDFW, and NOAA. The whale was first reported floating dead on Saturday, 16 January 2010 and temporarily came ashore a couple of locations in southern Puget Sound over the next couple of days. The whale was towed to a remote location (thanks to the help of Taylor Shellfish) and a detailed examination conducted on the afternoon of 19 January.

This species primarily uses warmer tropical waters and in the eastern North Pacific has not generally been seen north of southern California. It appears to have been in Puget Sound several weeks because there had been several puzzling sighting reports going back at least to the beginning of January of a live whale roughly meeting the description of this whale. This is the first confirmed sighting or stranding of this species in the Pacific Northwest that we are aware of.

Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

November 5 at 5

People for Puget Sound is holding an Open House at their downtown offices
911 Western Ave Suite 580 Seattle.
Refreshments served, meet the board, mingle with some of the most interesting people and see the list of accomplishments that this organization has made.

Recent Accomplishments:

· Maury Island Aquatic Reserve saved from a huge sand and gravel barging dock
· Permanent year-round rescue tug at Neah Bay for oil spill prevention (SB 5344)
· 1,200 miles of Puget Sound shoreline protected through local ordinances
· Low-impact standards to control flows and reduce pollution in storm water
· 46 miles of shoreline habitat and 20 salt marshes, beaches and estuaries restored to health, working with 2,000 volunteers
· Thousands of people educated and engaged at community events, low-tide beach explorations, “pier peers,” films, lectures, teacher workshops, and the biggest ever Citizen Lobby Day in Olympia
· Toxic free toys legislation (HB 2647), a phase-out of toxic flame retardants (HB 1024) and, in Seattle, a ban on Styrofoam containers

What We Are Poised to Accomplish:
· Funding for stormwater improvements and low-impact development (HB 1614)
· Aquatic Reserve designation for Protection Island and Smith Island
· Restoration projects on Orcas Island, Eld Inlet, Titlow Beach, Kayak Point, the Duwamish River, and many more places around the Sound and Straits
· Effective recovery measures for endangered Southern Resident orca whales, focusing on their need for ample, non-toxic salmon to eat
· Many community events to involve thousands more people in saving the Sound

Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

Contaminated Orca Food

Scientists find contaminated orca food

The food supply of Puget Sound's endangered orcas is contaminated, a team of Canadian and Washington scientists has found.

By Lynda V. Mapes Seattle Times staff reporter

A female orca travels with her 3-year-old offspring in the waters of the San Juan Islands in Puget Sound.

Related

• EPA: Toxin levels unacceptable throughout Northwest

The food supply of Puget Sound's endangered orcas is contaminated, a team of Canadian and Washington scientists has found.

The scientists measured persistent organic pollution concentrations in chinook salmon in order to understand the orcas' exposure to contamination in their food supply. Orcas, or killer whales, are actually a type of dolphin, are among the most contaminated marine mammals in the world, and are at risk of extinction in Puget Sound.

The so-called southern resident population of orcas that frequents Puget Sound was listed as an endangered species by the federal government in November 2005.

Southern resident orca whales seem to prefer chinook salmon for their diet — fish that the scientists found were contaminated with PCBs, flame retardants and other persistent chemicals that are retained in body fat.

The scientists found the highest concentrations of toxins in fish sampled in more southerly salmon stocks, including fish sampled near the mouth of the Duwamish River and in the Deschutes River near Olympia. Salmon sampled in more northerly areas, including Johnstone Strait and near the mouth of the Fraser River, were cleaner.

Scientists hypothesized Puget Sound's southern residents therefore are eating a bigger load of toxins in their food supply than the northern resident population of killer whales.

The scientists also estimated the southern residents eat more salmon than the orcas in northern waters, because the salmon the southern residents were eating were less fatty. That would mean the orcas have to eat more to get enough nutrition.

Some scientists found the study, published in this month's edition of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, troubling.

"Lots of factors are stacked against southern residents," said David Bain, a contract researcher for the fisheries service. "Cleaning up Puget Sound is something we need to do to get the toxins out. This shows we have more work cut out for us than we knew. "

Other scientists were concerned about reading too much into the study, which is based on samples of chinook from only five locations, and only certain times of year.

The southern residents travel broadly, cruising all the way from inner Puget Sound to the outer coast of Washington, and all the way south to California.

The study had no samples from salmon from the Sacramento and Columbia rivers, for instance, or other locations. The fish samples also were taken only during some months of the year, primarily the fall.

Gaps in the data point to the need for more research, said Michael Ford, director of the conservation-biology division at the Federal Fisheries Service in Seattle. "The question the study addresses is an important one: We need to know how contaminants reach the whales and which stocks might be important to clean up."