Orca (killer whale) Issues

REMEMBER . . . Greenland is not a particularly nice place to live if you are a whale KILLER WHALE SLAUGHTER IN GREENLAND (Mar 2002 Action Alert!)

Recently the killer whales that reside in the inland waters of Washington State and British Columbia, Canada, were listed as first a "depleted" stock under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, then as Endangered. This declining population has received lots of attention by conservation groups and federal authorities. We follow the many issues that surround these "Southern Resident Killer Whales" (SRKW) as well as that of other populations of killer whales throughout the world. photo of orca

The killer whale (Orcinus orca) is the second most widely distributed mammal in the world. Only humans are more widespread. While they are found in all oceans, killer whales are most common in coastal, temperate waters. Killer whales got their common name from 'whale killer'. While 'orca' is thought to sound friendlier, it actually is derived from latin and means "of the nether world". Needless to say they were regarded as bloodthirsty killers. As such they were hunted down and even used as target practice by the navy. In the 1960s, killer whales were captured for aquariums & sea life parks and became extremely popular attractions. Suddenly there was an about face in our perceptions of these 'wolves of the sea'. Huge crowds came to see them perform in shows. Still do. However, as more became known about these large dolphins, public sentiment has swayed against their captivity. None too soon, in our opinion anyhow ;). Orca captures came to a halt in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1970s. Off Iceland orca captures continued into the 1980s. They are still threatened with capture in Russian waters. During the same period that public opinion turned against captivity, a lucrative whalewatching industry sprung. The popularity of watching them perform never waned, it's just shifted to 'in the wild'. Now questions are being raised as to whether we're 'loving them to death'.

Killer whales are one of the most studied cetaceans. Particularly in the Pacific Northwest, where studies, by means of photo identification, were pioneered and have been ongoing since the early 1970s. Research done in the Pacific Northwest has yielded valuable information on different communities of killer whales, living sympatric lives but having different feeding strategies and being genetically distinct. Researchers can identify which pod a whale belongs to by listening to their unique dialects. Similar to the difference between the Boston accent or the the Texas drawl.

The world population of killer whales show specialized subpopulations which have adapted to taking different types of food resources in different regions. For example, killer whales off the Valdez peninsula in Argentina have learned to deliberately beach themselves in order to pick sea lion pups off the beach. Other marine mammal-hunting killer whales can be found in the Eastern North Pacific, and are often referred to as 'transients'. The so-called 'Residents' that occur in the Pacific Northwest live almost exclusively on salmon, while those off the coast of Norway have specialized in herring.

The issues that killer whales have to face throughout the world are considerable as well as varied. Some groups, such as those in Russian waters, are still subject to capture, or even harvest. Others, such as the Southern Resident Killer Whales carry toxic levels of heavy metals and chemicals which are sad byproducts of eating at the top of the food chain near an industrial region. It is thought that the Alaska killer whales had to shift their diet from baleen whales to seals and sea lions after the whaling fleets decimated the great whales.

When allowed to recover, killer whale populations do not increase rapidly even with abundant prey - they may have one of the slowest growth rates of all cetaceans because they don't become sexually mature until about age 12, and then, normally, have calves but once every five years.

Currently, only one global species of killer whale is recognized (Orcinus orca) and its current status is listed as "lower risk" by the IUCN. However some recent data suggests that there may be more than one species of killer whale worldwide. Researchers have proposed different species in particular in the Antarctic (O. nanus, O. glacialis). If so, this will have many implications for future conservation for this species.