SOUTHERN RESIDENT KILLER WHALE (SRKW) TASK FORCE

May 1, 2018

PRESENTATIONS

1. Project Overview. Nora Nickum, Cascadia Consulting Group, project manager.

2. Overview of Southern Resident Killer Whale biology, needs, and habits. Penny Becker, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

3. Threat: Lack of prey. Steve Martin, Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office.

4. Overview: Vessels Working Group. Todd Hass, Puget Sound Partnership.

5. Contaminants in Southern Resident Killer Whales. Derek Day, Washington Department of Ecology.

6. NOAA: SRKW Recovery Actions to Date. Teresa Mongillo, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Project overview

Nora Nickum, Cascadia Consulting Group

• Identify, prioritize, and support the implementation of a longer term action plan needed for the recovery of Southern Residents.

• Monitor and evaluate the immediate actions undertaken by state agencies and build upon the progress and effectiveness of that work.

• Where available and applicable, build upon existing state, regional, and federal plans.

Task Force charge

Reports

2019Due Oct. 1, 2019

Content will include:

• Progress made

• Lessons learned

• Outstanding needs and additional recommendations

2018Draft due Oct. 1, 2018 | Final due Nov. 1, 2018

Content will include:

• Task Force recommendations for addressing all major threats and recovering Southern Residents (policies, programs, priority actions, legislation, budget needs)

• Summary of minority views and actions considered but not ultimately recommended

• Status report on immediate actions required by the EO

• Issues and actions to discuss in 2019

Staff & consultant resources

Working groups

Role:Support the work of the Task Force by identifying, researching, and analyzing potential actions and formulating draft recommendations for consideration by the Task Force.

Leads:Prey availability:

• Steve Martin, Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office

• Penny Becker, WDFWVessels & noise:

• Todd Hass, Puget Sound Partnership

Toxics:• Derek Day and Tom Laurie,

Department of Ecology

Staff & consultant resources

Steering Committee• Representatives of Governor’s office,

Office of Financial Management, Department of Fish and Wildlife, Puget Sound Partnership, and Department of Ecology

• Task Force co-chairs

Agency staff• Penny Becker, Department of Fish &

Wildlife

Staff & consultant resources

Consultant team• Susan Gulick, lead facilitator• Nora Nickum, project manager

& report lead• Marc Daudon, strategic advisor• Abby Hook, prey availability

working group liaison• Gretchen Muller, vessels and

toxics working groups liaison

Public comment opportunities

• Webpage

www.governor.wa.gov/issues/issues/energy-environment/southern-resident-killer-whale-recovery-and-task-force

• Oral and written comments accepted at all Task Force meetings

1

Dave Ellifrit, Center for Whale Research

Penny BeckerPolicy Lead

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

2

3 populations in Washington

Southern residents

West coast transients

Offshores

3

Pacific Northwest Killer Whales

Southern residents

Northern Residents

(Not common in WA)

Offshores Transients

State status Endangered Endangered Endangered Endangered

Federal status Endangered - - -

Critical habitat Yes - - -

Marine Mammal Protection Act protections

Yes Yes Yes Yes

Canada status Endangered Threatened Threatened Threatened

4

Transient Killer Whales

Michael Colahan, Island Adventures Whale Watching and Pangea Pictures

• More fluid social organization; smaller temporary pods

• Diet is mostly marine mammals, especially harbor seals

• Cover larger distances than residents

5

Offshore Killer Whales

Craig Matkin

• Form fluid groups of 2-70 whales

• Diet is believed to contain mostly sharks

• Extensive movements in deeper waters

Rod Palm

6

Southern Resident Killer Whales

Top: Astrid van Ginneken, Bottom: Center for Whale Research

• Highly stable social organization: J, K, L pods

• Pod size: 15-60 whales

• Diet dominated by salmon

7

8

39-62% Chum21-45% Chinook

5-13% Coho2-5% Steelhead

65-96% Chinook0-35% Steelhead (May)

0-29% Coho (Sept)

67-80% Chinook5-16% Steelhead0-14% Lingcod2-12% Halibut

9

• Historic population estimated at around 200 whales in late 1800s

End of Captures for Aquaria

Federal Endangered Listing

State Endangered Listing

Periodic Status Review

June 2016

10

11

Astrid van Ginneken

• Our heritage

• Economics

• Family

• Healthy whales, healthy waters

12

• NOAA’s Species in the Spotlight

• Canada’s Ocean Protections Plan

• Governor Inslee’s Executive Order

13

• Reduced abundance of prey (salmon)

• Vessel interactions & sound- prey accessibility

• Chemical contaminants and potential oil spills

14Photo: Clint Rivers, Eagle Wing Tours

1

Penny Becker Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

Steve MartinGovernor’s Salmon Recovery Office

2

Chinook Focus

Salish Sea

May-Sept• 65-96% Chinook• 0-35% Steelhead

(May)• 0-29% Coho (Sept)

Oct-Dec• 39-62% Chum• 21-45% Chinook• 5-13% Coho• 2-5% Steelhead

Outer Coast

Oct-Dec

Jan-April• 67-80% Chinook• 5-16% Steelhead• 0-14% Lingcod• 2-12% Halibut

3

SRKW Need Chinook from all of Washington and Beyond

4

Major Threats for Salmon

• Habitat

• Hatchery

• Hydropower

• Harvest

• Predation

5

Habitat• Degraded conditions

• Diminished forage fish pops

• Fish passage barriers

Hatchery• Reduced production for

hatchery reform and/or due to funding

6

Hydropower

• Reservoir effects/travel time

• Concentrate (funnel) fish

• Survival improvements

Harvest

• Declined significantly

YouTube

San Juan Journal

7

Predation

• Some predators shown to be consuming large proportion of fish runs in some places

• Harbor seals, sea lions, seabirds, predatory fish

8

Washington’s Salmon Recovery Approach

9

Questions?

Clint Rivers, Eagle Wing Tours

Overview: Vessels Working Group

Todd Hass, PhD

Chair, Vessels Working Group

Puget Sound Partnership

May 1 2018

• Salish Sea is ‘critical habitat’ for SRKWs

• Vessels—from small craft to ships—

produce underwater noise, masking

echolocation & communication

• Presence of vessels may displace from preferred areas, induce switches to energetically costly behaviors

• BC shipping traffic has been on the rise and likely to grow

• Recreational/commercial whale watching has expanded

Categorizing threats

Mechanical

• Ships: lower frequencies interfering with communication and compensation with louder calls• Boats: higher frequencies masking echolocation, impairing prey-finding and capture

Electronic/sonar• Common 50 kHz frequency of echo-sounders overlaps with orca echolocation

Categorizing vessel noise and effects on SRKWsTypical sources and acoustic frequencies of underwater masking noises

• SRKW recovery far better with 15% > prey and 50% less noise, than 30% > prey (Lacy et al. 2017)• Models suggest SRKWs lose foraging time due to vessel/noise avoidance behavior to ships and boats—3hr and 15min per day—respectively (ECHO-Tollit et al. 2017)• By vessel class: 15% of ships produce about half the low frequency noise (Veirs et al. 2018 in press)• Transport Canada noise mitigation model available in 2 wks

Scientific “currencies” for targeting and measuring success of vessel mitigation

Regional experts from shipping, boating and specialist groups from US/Canada

Composition of Vessels Working Group

Large vessels Small vessels Specialists

Ports Recreational Acoustics

Shipping Whale watchers Vessel design

Ferries Safety/education Vessel traffic management

Pilots Enforcement SRKW behavior

Vessels Working Group not starting from scratch: stage set to ‘form, storm, norm and perform’

• (and…) solid foundation of scientific understanding

• (but…) shared discussions of pros, cons and other considerations of options between groups—limited to date

• (so…) opportunity to ‘identify, research and analyze potential actions and formulate draft recommendations for the Task Force’ is ripe and timely

Contaminants in Southern Resident Killer Whales

Pinnipeds

Herring

Zooplankton

Phytoplankton

Contaminants

Pinnipeds

Herring

Zooplankton

Phytoplankton

Contaminants

Biomagnification

Pinnipeds

Herring

Zooplankton

Phytoplankton

Contaminants

Bioaccumulation

100 Yrs

Contaminants of Concern for SRKW

•PCBs

•PBDEs

•DDT

•PAHs

•Trace Elements

•Polychlorinated Biphenyls

•Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers

•Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane

•Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

•Metals, Other persistent Organics….

Contaminants of Concern for SRKW

•PCBs

•PBDEs

•DDT

•PAHs

•Trace Elements

•Reproductive Impairment

• Immunotoxicity

•Endocrine disruption

•Neurotoxicity

•Cancer

Contaminants of Concern for SRKW

•PCBs

•PBDEs

•DDT

•PAHs

•Trace Elements

•Reproductive Impairment• Immunotoxicity•Endocrine disruption•Neurotoxicity•Cancer•And, they can kill their

food!

What We’re Going to Do About It

Contaminants

•PCBs

•PBDEs

•PAHs

•Trace Elements

•DDT

Questions

•How do we keep contaminants out of their prey (Chinook)?

•How do we ensure that SRKW prey survival isn’t impacted?

What We’re Going to Do About It

Pathways

•Stormwater

•Wastewater

•Non-point Runoff

•Air Deposition

Solutions

•Water Quality Treatment

•Source Control

•Legacy Clean-up

Contaminants

•PCBs

•PBDEs

•PAHs

•Trace Elements

•DDT

Southern Resident Killer Whale Recovery

West Coast Region

Teresa Mongillo

•Reviews, assesses factors

affecting whales

•Lays out recovery program to

address all threats

•Adaptive process to incorporate

research results as available

•2014 Report on 10 years of

research and conservation

RECOVERY PLAN- 2008

Species in the Spotlight- most at risk for extinction• Contaminants and health• Protect whales from harmful

vessel impacts• Target recovery of critical prey• Protect important habitats• Raise awareness and inspire

stewardship

Other ongoing actions include• Oil spill response planning• Transboundary coordination

ACTION PLAN 2016-2020

CONTAMINANTS AND HEALTH

• Health workshops 2015, 2016, 2017

• Discuss needs, strategies and priorities related to:

• What is causing decreased reproduction?

• What is causing increased mortality?

NOAA- J16

CONTAMINANTS AND HEALTH

• Health database

• Photogrammetry and links to

biomarkers and prey

• Track and sample animals of

interest (fecal, breath)

• Contaminants trends

• Body condition and blubber

thickness/content

• Stranding investigations-

causes of death, disease and

pathogens

• Puget Sound Partnership Action Agenda to restore Puget Sound

• Series of workgroups in 2013 with EPA- PBDE removal in wastewater, transport/fate, need to establish threshold

• Report and recommendations from PBDEs working group with EPA and WA state agencies

CONTAMINANTS AND HEALTH

•Prohibits vessels from approaching killer whales within 200 yards

•Prohibits vessels from parking in the path within 400 yards

In 2011, NOAA Fisheries issued federal vessel regulation to reduce disturbance from vessels to SRKWs:

NOAA committed to assessing effectiveness and impact

PROTECT FROM HARMFUL VESSEL IMPACT

Recommendations from NOAA Tech Memo:

• Continued and expanded enforcement,

Soundwatch/Straitwatch monitoring, and

education/outreach

• Compare the behavioral and acoustic effects

of different boat activity patterns to determine

the vessel behaviors with the highest impact

• Improve estimates of the energetic cost of

reduced foraging opportunities

• Support Canada establishing similar vessel

regulations to improve protection and

compliance

NOAA

Permit

#781-

1725

PROTECT FROM HARMFUL VESSEL IMPACT

Broad Engagement• Government

• Local, county, state, federal, tribal, transboundary

• Industry

• Non-profit/ Conservation Groups

• Academic/Research

• Public outreach

• Students, families

NOAA

Permit #781-

1725

PROTECT FROM HARMFUL VESSEL IMPACT

Whale Protection Zone Petition:

• Petition submitted by three NGOs

November 2016

• Notice of Receipt of petition and request

for public comment through April 13,

2017

• Next Steps

• Review 1,000+ public comments

• Consider vessel regulations review

• Coordinate with State and San Juan

County efforts

• Additional Dtag results

.

PROTECT FROM HARMFUL VESSEL IMPACT

• Coordinating with ongoing salmon recovery efforts: workshops, events

• Short-term strategies: Review of salmon fisheries and Southern Resident killer whales

RECOVERY OF CRITICAL PREY

• Next steps: long-term strategies

• 2018 NFWF workshop

• Identifying priority salmon stocks

RECOVERY OF CRITICAL PREY

NOAA

PROTECT IMPORTANT HABITAT

Critical Habitat - 2006

Coastal habitat use

research:

• Satellite tagging,

acoustic recorders,

sightings

•NMFS received a petition to revise

critical habitat and is developing

revision to include coastal waters

Outreach Partners:

•The Whale Museum

•Seattle Aquarium

•Soundwatch

•WDFW

•The Whale Trail

•Killer Whale Tales

•Sighting Networks

•Naturalists

•Whale Watch Assoc.

•NGOs

RAISE AWARENESS- EDUCATION & OUTREACH

• Action in Recovery Plan and Recovery

Criteria

• Effective response plan in place

• Killer Whale Response Plan: Appendix to the

Northwest Area Contingency Plan

• Tools to keep whales away from oil

• Helicopter

• Banging pipes

• “seal bombs” (ensure safety of

responders and whales)

• Upcoming killer whale spill response exercise

scheduled May 2018

OIL SPILL RESPONSE PLANNING

WDFW

•Mechanisms at every level: federal, state, county

•SJC MSA•State

•State regulations•Joint enforcement agreement

•Trans-boundary species requires coordination with Canada

•Research and recovery planning•Stranding response

COORDINATION IS KEY