Traditional summer habitat use by Southern Resident killer whales in the Salish Sea is linked to Fraser River Chinook salmon returns
Abstract Southern Resident killer whales (SRKW, Orcinus orca ) are a small, endangered population of fish‐eating killer whales that inhabit coastal and inland waters of the western United States and British Columbia. SRKW have been in decline since 1995, with food availability, vessel disturbance, a...
Published in: | Marine Mammal Science |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mms.13012 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/mms.13012 |
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crwiley:10.1111/mms.13012 2024-09-30T14:40:58+00:00 Traditional summer habitat use by Southern Resident killer whales in the Salish Sea is linked to Fraser River Chinook salmon returns Stewart, Joshua D. Cogan, Jane Durban, John W. Fearnbach, Holly Ellifrit, David K. Malleson, Mark Pinnow, Melisa Balcomb, Kenneth C. National Fish and Wildlife Foundation National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration SeaWorld and Busch Gardens Conservation Fund 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mms.13012 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/mms.13012 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Marine Mammal Science volume 39, issue 3, page 858-875 ISSN 0824-0469 1748-7692 journal-article 2023 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.13012 2024-09-03T04:25:05Z Abstract Southern Resident killer whales (SRKW, Orcinus orca ) are a small, endangered population of fish‐eating killer whales that inhabit coastal and inland waters of the western United States and British Columbia. SRKW have been in decline since 1995, with food availability, vessel disturbance, and pollutants proposed as drivers of their decline. We used 17 years of sightings data from the SRKW core summer habitat in the Salish Sea to examine trends in presence of SRKW, and how these trends may be related to the availability of a key food source, Fraser River‐origin Chinook salmon. We found that SRKW occupancy has declined by more than 75%, in step with reduced average catch per unit effort (CPUE) of Fraser River Chinook salmon. J pod was present in the core summer habitat most often, followed by K and L pods. All three pods demonstrated declines in visitation to the core summer habitat from 2004 to 2020, and presence of SRKW was significantly related to annual average Fraser Chinook CPUE. Our findings suggest that declining Fraser River Chinook returns may be reaching a point where SRKW cannot reliably meet their energetic needs, driving them to forage in areas outside of their traditional core summer habitat. Article in Journal/Newspaper Orca Orcinus orca Wiley Online Library Fraser River ENVELOPE(-62.243,-62.243,56.619,56.619) Marine Mammal Science 39 3 858 875 |
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Open Polar |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Southern Resident killer whales (SRKW, Orcinus orca ) are a small, endangered population of fish‐eating killer whales that inhabit coastal and inland waters of the western United States and British Columbia. SRKW have been in decline since 1995, with food availability, vessel disturbance, and pollutants proposed as drivers of their decline. We used 17 years of sightings data from the SRKW core summer habitat in the Salish Sea to examine trends in presence of SRKW, and how these trends may be related to the availability of a key food source, Fraser River‐origin Chinook salmon. We found that SRKW occupancy has declined by more than 75%, in step with reduced average catch per unit effort (CPUE) of Fraser River Chinook salmon. J pod was present in the core summer habitat most often, followed by K and L pods. All three pods demonstrated declines in visitation to the core summer habitat from 2004 to 2020, and presence of SRKW was significantly related to annual average Fraser Chinook CPUE. Our findings suggest that declining Fraser River Chinook returns may be reaching a point where SRKW cannot reliably meet their energetic needs, driving them to forage in areas outside of their traditional core summer habitat. |
author2 |
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration SeaWorld and Busch Gardens Conservation Fund |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stewart, Joshua D. Cogan, Jane Durban, John W. Fearnbach, Holly Ellifrit, David K. Malleson, Mark Pinnow, Melisa Balcomb, Kenneth C. |
spellingShingle |
Stewart, Joshua D. Cogan, Jane Durban, John W. Fearnbach, Holly Ellifrit, David K. Malleson, Mark Pinnow, Melisa Balcomb, Kenneth C. Traditional summer habitat use by Southern Resident killer whales in the Salish Sea is linked to Fraser River Chinook salmon returns |
author_facet |
Stewart, Joshua D. Cogan, Jane Durban, John W. Fearnbach, Holly Ellifrit, David K. Malleson, Mark Pinnow, Melisa Balcomb, Kenneth C. |
author_sort |
Stewart, Joshua D. |
title |
Traditional summer habitat use by Southern Resident killer whales in the Salish Sea is linked to Fraser River Chinook salmon returns |
title_short |
Traditional summer habitat use by Southern Resident killer whales in the Salish Sea is linked to Fraser River Chinook salmon returns |
title_full |
Traditional summer habitat use by Southern Resident killer whales in the Salish Sea is linked to Fraser River Chinook salmon returns |
title_fullStr |
Traditional summer habitat use by Southern Resident killer whales in the Salish Sea is linked to Fraser River Chinook salmon returns |
title_full_unstemmed |
Traditional summer habitat use by Southern Resident killer whales in the Salish Sea is linked to Fraser River Chinook salmon returns |
title_sort |
traditional summer habitat use by southern resident killer whales in the salish sea is linked to fraser river chinook salmon returns |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mms.13012 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/mms.13012 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-62.243,-62.243,56.619,56.619) |
geographic |
Fraser River |
geographic_facet |
Fraser River |
genre |
Orca Orcinus orca |
genre_facet |
Orca Orcinus orca |
op_source |
Marine Mammal Science volume 39, issue 3, page 858-875 ISSN 0824-0469 1748-7692 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.13012 |
container_title |
Marine Mammal Science |
container_volume |
39 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
858 |
op_container_end_page |
875 |
_version_ |
1811643420736749568 |