(Victoria Times-Colonist)
Whalewatchers attack starvation claim
BY JUDITH LAVOIE, TIMESCOLONIST.COMAUGUST 14, 2011
A whale-watching party catches a glimpse of a pod of killer whales off Vancouver Island.
Photograph by: Springtidecharters.com, timescolonist.com
JUDITH LAVOIE
Times Colonist
Noise from whale-watching boats is a major factor in the starvation of endangered resident killer whales and the feeding area off the west side of San Juan Island should be off-limits to the fleet, says the chairman of a whale protection group.
"Whale-watch boats are directly responsible for the death of our local whales," said Mark Anderson of the Orca Relief Citizens Alliance.
However, spokesmen for the whale-watching fleet deny Anderson's claims and say his science is faulty.
Marine zoologist Anna Hall, who skippers a vessel for Prince of Whales Whale Watching, said the whales are not starving and studies do not conclude that whale-watching interferes with feeding.
"We are not seeing skinny whales, but I do think it is fundamentally important that we ensure there are enough salmon out there," Hall said.
Resident killer whale recovery strategies in Canada and the U.S pinpoint diminished numbers of chinook salmon, noise and pollution as major problems faced by the 88 whales.
Anderson, who works in technology and economics predictions, but has a background in marine biology, agrees that most scientific studies show the base cause of the whales failing to thrive is a shortage of chinook salmon, but says the secondary cause is noise from whale-watching boats which "blinds" their sonar.
"An adult female, when boats are present, expends 17 per cent more energy," Anderson said.
"When boats are present, the whales swim longer paths and dive more often and deeper and their breathing rate goes up. That has all been studied at length."
Fish are usually bunched up against San Juan Island, but the whales, which usually travel in tight pods for foraging, spread out when whale-watching boats are present, Anderson said.
Anderson wants the area off-limits to motorized whale-watching boats, but open to other boats.
"It would remove the 100 per cent all-day, all-season harassment," he said.
But whale-watch skippers say most of those breaking the rules around the orcas are private boaters.
"It raises the question that, if the boats are interfering with the whales' ability to predate, why only exclude the boats which have a small fraction of the interaction with the whales?" said Dan Kukat, of SpringTide Victoria Whale Watch Tours and president of the Pacific Whale Watch Association.
If that happened, "you would see a lot of charter fishing boats advertising whale watching," he predicted.
Making the area off-limits only to whalewatchers would have an economic effect, Hall said.
"It would be very difficult to explain to someone who has paid for a ticket that we're going to stop at half a mile and then they see other vessels in there," she said.
The idea of a half mile (0.8 km) no-go zone on the west side of San Juan Island is similar to a no-vessel proposal put forward by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) during a revamp of whale-watching regulations.
But the new rules, which came into effect this year, do not include the no-go zone.
Instead, the whale-watching fleet is keeping to a decade-old voluntary quarter mile (half kilometre) no-go zone, which doubles around Lime Kilm Point, said NMFS marine biologist Lynne Barre.
"The no-go zone is still on the table, but we want to take some extra time," she said.
"We realize the benefits of a protective area for the whales, but a lot of comments from the public suggested something a little bit different and we didn't have time to consider them all."
The final decision will include a scientific analysis and look at the economic impact, she said.
It is most likely all three threats to the whales — food shortages, noise and pollution — work in concert, Barre said.
"If there aren't so many fish, noise can impact their ability to echo-locate and it also impacts their behaviour," she said.
"And, if they don't get enough to eat, they use their blubber stores and that's where the contaminants are."
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