Southern Resident Killer Whales

The southern resident orcas, also known as the southern resident killer whales (SRKW), are the smallest of four separate, non-interbreeding communities of the exclusively fish-eating ecotype of orca in the northeast portion of the North Pacific Ocean. The fish-eating ecotype was historically given the name 'resident,' but other ecotypes are also resident in the area. The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service listed this distinct population segment of orcas as endangered, effective from 2005, under the Endangered Species Act.
In Canada the SRKW are listed as endangered on Species at Risk Act Schedule 1.
They are commonly referred to as "fish-eating orcas", "southern residents", or the "SRKW population". Unlike some other resident communities, the SRKW is only one clan (J) that consists of 3 pods (J, K, L) with several matrilines within each pod. As of July 2022 there were only 73 individuals (74 including the captive southern resident, Lolita) in the annual census conducted by the Center for Whale Research. The world's oldest known orca, Granny or J2, had belonged to and led J pod of the SRKW population. J2 was estimated to have been born around 1911, which would mean she would have been 105 years old at the time of her disappearance and death which occurred probably in late 2016. On July 24, 2018, the first calf born in three years died after being alive for only half an hour.

Social structure

Photo identification over the last 38 years has allowed researchers to track the southern resident population quite accurately, such as the Orca ID site
offered through the Center for Whale Research. Their population is built upon a matrilineal system where these strong hierarchical groups of individuals are connected by maternal descent. Each matriline consists of a female, her sons and daughters and the offspring of her daughters; averaging anywhere from one to seventeen individuals and one to five generations within each of these matrilines. Pods are groups of matrilines that share a maternal ancestor, in which the southern residents consist of three pods. The number of individuals changes due to birth and deaths.

The following is the basic social structure:

;Community
: Southern Resident
;Clan
: J
;Pods
: J Pod ''(25 members)''
: K Pod ''(16 members)''
: L Pod ''(32 members)''
;Matrilines
Note that in several matrilines the matriarch is absent because deceased; nonetheless her descendants continue to associate as a group. Year of survey is 2022.

J11s: J27, J31, J39, J56

J14s: J37, J40, J45, J49, J59

J16s: J16, J26, J36, J42

J17s: J35, J44, J46, J47, J53, J57

J19s: J19, J41, J51, J58

J22s: J22, J38

K12s: K12, K22, K33, K37, K43

K13s: K20, K27, K34, K38, K45

K14s: K14, K26, K36, K42

K16s: K16, K35

L4s: L55, L82, L86, L103, L106, L109, L116, L118, L123, L125

L11s: L77, L94, L113, L119, L121, L124

L22s: L22, L85, L87

L25: L25 the oldest southern resident has no surviving close relatives except probably the captive southern resident Tokitae aka Lolita. L25 travels with the L22s and L11s.

L47s: L83, L91, L110, L115, L122

L54s: L54, L108, L117, plus the unrelated L88 who is an adult male born in 1993 with no living close relatives and who always travels with the L54s.

L72s: L72, L105

L90: L90 is an adult female born 1993 who has no living close relatives. She associates with the L47s.

While J Pod always travels as a unit, and so does K Pod, L Pod orcas are usually encountered in two separate regular units traveling apart. The L4s, L47s, L90, and L72s are one consistent group; the L11s, L22s, L25, and L54s are the other; but sometimes the four L54s strikingly travel independently of all the others.

Recent births and deaths

In 2014, L120 was born into L pod but didn't survive more than a month. In late 2014, J50 Scarlet was born into the J pod. After a lot of speculation, J16 Slick was confirmed to be J50's mother, making the 42-year-old the oldest ever recorded orca mother. The gender of the calf is confirmed to be female.

In February 2015, two new calves were spotted, a male calf in J pod, designated J51 Nova, and another male in L pod, designated L121 Windsong. J51's mother is ten-year-old J41 Eclipse and L121's mother is twenty-year-old L94 Calypso. A fourth calf, designated J52 was born in March 2015 to J36 Alki, who is J16's daughter. In early 2016, J52 Sonic was confirmed to be male, however he died in September 2017, presumably from starvation.

In August 2018, the pod attracted international attention after the death of a female calf born to J35 Tahlequah and the sickness and death of another calf, J50.

In January 2019, L124 Whistle was born to L77 Matia and is her third calf. In May 2019, J56 Tofino was born to J31 Tsuchi as her first calf and her gender was later confirmed as female.

In September 2020, J57 Phoenix was first seen traveling with J35 Tahlequah and is her second calf. His gender was determined as male a short time later. On September 24, 2020, J58 Crescent's birth was observed and she was confirmed as the second calf of J41 Eclipse by the Center for Whale Research the next day. Her gender was later confirmed as female by the Center for Whale Research.

In 2021, there was only one birth, L125 Element to L86 Surprise!. L125 is L86's second living offspring, and a female. She was first encountered in February, when her size indicated she was about a month old.

In February 2022, J37 Hy'Shqa was seen with a new calf, designated J59. This is J37's second surviving calf. The calf's gender was revealed to be female on May 29, 2022.

In April 2022, K20 Spock was seen with a new calf, designated K45. This is K20's second calf, and the first calf born in K Pod since 2011. K45 was identified as female by Fisheries and Oceans Canada in October 2022, and given the name Prosper by The Whale Museum in November 2022.

Only two calves were born in 2022, and the total population of the Southern Residents has fallen to one of its lowest numbers since 1974, when 71 individuals were counted following the live-capture era. Only 73 Southern Residents were counted in the July 1, 2022 census conducted by the Center for Whale Research. This consisted of 32 whales in L Pod, its lowest point since 1976, 16 orcas in K Pod, its lowest in the last 20 years, and 25 in J Pod, which remained stable. In the year up to July 2022, three individuals died: K21, K44, and L89. From 1998 to 2022, 46 southern resident orca calves have been born and survived, while 81 southern residents have died.

Dialect

Similar dialects amongst pods create the social grouping called "clans". It is believed that the more similar their dialect is within the pods, the more closely related they are. The southern dialect is very different from that of other communities. For instance, northern residents use whistles as their main type of close-range communication and the southern residents use whistles for regular social interactions and long-range communications. Southern residents appear to be much more vocal but it could be due to their vocal usage during travel and the fact that they seem to travel more than the northern residents.

Location

The southern residents have been seen off the coast of California, Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Historic sightings and more recent data from satellite-tagged individuals show frequent use of coastal waters as far south as Monterey Bay, California in the winter and early spring. Members of L pod have been seen as far north as southeast Alaska. During the late spring through fall, the southern residents tend to travel around the inland waterways of Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and southern Georgia Strait - an area known as the Salish Sea. More information is now available about their range and movements during the winter months, which appears to follow the return of Chinook salmon to major rivers in California and North America's Pacific Northwest region.

Relationship with the Lummi Nation

The Lummi Nation has had a relationship with southern resident killer whales in the Salish Sea for thousands of years. Early proof of this can be seen in the recorded oral tradition of the tribes in the Puget Sound with the story "The Two Brothers' Journey to the North", which was first recorded in the mid-1850s. The Lummi Nation refer to the southern resident killer whales as qwe'lhol'mechen, which translates to "people beneath the waves". The term Sk'aliCh'elh is used to refer to the J, K, and L pods of the Southern Resident orcas by their "Lummi family name". The Lummi Nation considers the southern resident killer whales as kin and has sacred ceremonies dedicated to them.

Due to pollution, lack of prey, and previous whaling efforts, the orcas’ populations have recently been in decline. The Lummi have been making efforts using Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) to support the orca population. They are concerned about the future of the orcas if environmental issues that negatively impact the orcas continue to persist, and have been seeking support from agencies with the government to work harder in upholding the integrity of orca populations.

J17, or Princess Angeline, is one such orca that has been under the care of the Lummi people in recent years. Before J17 passed away in 2019, the Lummi people practiced orca feeding ceremonies with J17. The ceremony for the spiritual feeding involves first leaving the mainland on a boat to find a proper location. Next is the releasing of live and dead salmon, the live salmon to feed J17, and the dead salmon to honor the qwe'lhol mechen ancestors. The purpose of the ceremony is to hope that the condition of the orcas improves as well as to honor the orcas' ancestors. In relation to such feedings, Lummi matriarch Raynell Morris has explained that "Here at Lummi when we see a relative starving, we don’t go in and do medical tests to see how much they are starving. We know they are and we do the right thing and we feed them."

Distinguishing features

*Dorsal fin: rounded at the tip (leading edge) and positioned over the rear insertion of the fin towards the back.
*Saddle patch: typically seen as an "open" saddle patch; five different pigmentation patterns have been reported with similarities noted among clans within a community.

Diet

Southern residents are fish-eating orcas that appear to prefer the Chinook salmon to other fish species. From visual sources, necropsy, and feces collection, the following food preferences have been reported:
*Salmon 97%
*: Chinook (78% in late spring and fall)
*: Chum (11%, more so in fall)
*:Coho (5%)
*:Steelhead (2%)
*:Sockeye (1%)
*Other fish 3%
*:e.g. Pacific herring and quillback rockfish
They can be known to play with porpoise.

Threats

The major threats to this very small community have been listed as:
*Decreased prey availability
*Pollution and contaminants
*Effects from vessels traffic and vessel sound

Decline in prey

The depletion of large quantities of fish in the marine environments, while personal fishing in the salmon's upstream spawning grounds have further depleted stock replenishment. Aquaculture has had a negative effect on world fish supplies, including through the spread of pathogens to the wild fish stock. A study also found that Chinook salmon found in South Puget Sound have less fat than those farther north, causing an increased need for consumption. Due to four dams in the Lower Snake River Dam System, native salmon flow has been heavily restricted, endangering both Chinook Salmon and Southern Resident Killer Whales.

Chemical contamination

Northwest orca are among the most contaminated marine mammals in the world, due to the high levels of toxic anthropogenic chemicals that accumulate in their tissues. Implicated in the decline of orca populations in the Pacific Northwest, these widespread contaminants pose a large problem for conservation efforts. While many chemicals can be found in the tissues of orca, the most common are the insecticide DDT, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Each of these have detrimental physiological effects on orca,Ross, P.S, G.M Ellis, et al. "High PCB Concentrations in Free- Ranging Pacific Killer Whales, Orcinus orca: Effects of Age, Sex and Dietary Preference." Marine Pollution Bulletin. 40.6 (2000): 504–515 and can be found in such high concentrations in dead individuals that those individuals must be disposed of in hazardous waste sites.

Correlative evidence shows orca may be vulnerable to effects of PCBs on many levels. Research has identified PCBs as being linked to restricting development of the reproductive system in orcas and dolphins. High contamination levels leads to low pregnancy rates and high mortality in dolphins. Further effects include endocrine and immune system disruption, both systems being critical to mammalian health and survival. A study examining 35 Northwest orcas found key genetic alterations that caused changes to normal physiological functions. These genetic level interferences, combined with the varied effects of PCBs at other physiological levels, suggest these contaminants may be partially responsible for declines in orca populations.

Many of the chemicals that have been found to be toxic to the orca population continue to be widely used. Conservation efforts are said to have difficulty making progress if the chemicals that harm the orcas continue to pollute the water they live in.

Marine noise

Noise and crowding from tour boats and larger vessels interrupt foraging behavior, or scare away prey. The noise can mask echolocation causing difficulty with catching prey. Also, sonar is speculated to cause hemorrhaging, and possibly death.

Previous captures

Population numbers

Before the 20th century, orca populations in the Salish Sea likely numbered over 200. From 1964 to 1976, approximately 47 southern resident orcas were captured to be taken to aquariums, and possibly a dozen or more died during capture attempts. While the capture of these whales was banned in Canada in 1976, the number of whales was reduced significantly and there were only 71 remaining in the population. Since then, the orca population in the Salish Sea has fluctuated from a low of 71 to a high of 98 in 1995 and declining again to reach the status of endangered that it holds today.

Yukon Harbor capture

The first large capture event was the Yukon Harbor capture on the west side of Puget Sound in 1967.Colby, pp. 103-104. Of the 15 trapped southern residents, three died, and five were taken into captivity.Colby, pp. 103-106. They were from K Pod,Colby, p. 105. now the smallest pod.

1970 Penn Cove capture

On a single day in 1970 in Penn Cove off Whidbey Island in Washington state, approximately 80 orcas were herded into net pens and 7 young orcas were captured to be placed in aquariums and theme parks. The orca commonly known as Tokitae, or as Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut to the Lummi, was captured during this event, and is the only orca from the event still alive in captivity, at the Miami Seaquarium.

Conservation efforts

Both NOAA and the Lummi Nation have been making efforts to feed bolster the Southern Resident population, however, there is disagreement in the types of conservation efforts that should be implemented. The Lummi believe that immediate action is necessary in order to sustain the already unhealthy orca populations, while NOAA believes in observing before taking action. The Lummi are using "traditional ecological knowledge" practices to help sustain the orca population, including feeding of malnourished individuals, which has been criticized by NOAA as unsustainable. The groups have worked together though to create "helpful protocols" and strive for the overall wellbeing of the orcas.

There was a Washington state-wide task force created in March 2018 to make recommendations on how to preserve the Southern Residents from extinction. Some of the recommendations include stopping the use of hormone disruptors and other toxins in consumer products and removing dams that interfere with the salmon's access to breeding grounds.

Current conservation efforts are listed as:

* Support salmon restoration efforts
* Clean up existing contaminated sites
* Continue evaluating and improving guidelines for vessel activity
* Prevent oil spills
* Continue Agency coordination
* Enhance public awareness
* Improve responses to live and dead orcas
* Coordinate monitoring, research, enforcement
* Conduct research
* Cooperation and coordination

On October 31, 2018, the Government of Canada committed $61.5 million to implement new protections for the Southern Residents.

See also

* Northern resident killer whale
* List of cetaceans
* Michael Bigg
* Orca types and populations

References

General references

*{{cite book , last=Colby , first=Jason M. , title=Orca: how we came to know and love the ocean's greatest predator , year= 2018 , publisher= Oxford University Press , location=Oxford , isbn=9780190673116

External links

The Center for Whale Research

Orca Network Learning Center Portal

Puget Sound Orcas Vital Sign indicator: Number of Southern Resident Killer Whales

Orca Behavior Institute




Endemic fauna of the Pacific Northwest
Orcas
Cetaceans of the Pacific Ocean
Puget Sound
ESA endangered species