Killer Whale Research and Conservation Fund 2020 Program Report Killer Whale Research Investing in Recovery |2015-2020 Through this public-private partnership, the Killer Whale Research and Conservation Fund advances and Conservation Fund cost-effective and innovative recovery solutions KWRCF brings public and private dollars together to a common purpose – the stabilization and recovery of the endangered Southern Resident killer whale.
This population of whales is iconic to the people of the Pacific Northwest and an indicator of the health of the entire ecosystem of the Salish Sea (Puget Sound – Pacific Ocean).
KWRCF takes an ecosystem approach in fostering collaboration across scientific disciplines to address barriers to recovery.
The first six years of the Killer Whale Conservation Fund were made possible with funding and support from our partners Our Strategy Aligns with Orca Task Force Impact of Investments | 2015-2020
2015-2017 KWRCF grants directly informed the 2.1 Riparian habitat restored for Increase Salmon Investments by Threat Miles key salmon runs Abundance Orca Task Force and were referenced in the recommendations. $1,400,000 $1,200,000 40 Nearshore fish habitat Acres restored The 2018 Orca Task Force recommended 36 actions $1,000,000 across the three threat reduction goals. Decrease Boating $800,000 93 Addressing critical Impacts $600,000 Studies management needs NFWF has identified activities within 14 of these $400,000 recommendations where we are best suited to assist. 50 Under stormwater $200,000 Acres management best practices Decrease 2018-2020 KWRCF grants are directly implementing $0 Contaminants Salmon Vessel Impacts Water Quality Whale recommendations. Abundance Research 4,855 Volunteers directly engaged Hours in conservation KWRCF Projects | A New Perspective on Whale Nutrition
Changing the way we look at whales and think about hatcheries has been a game changer for management.
The KWRCF has supported grants to test, hatchery management that may be impacting calibrate and institutionalize the use of young salmon survival. Researchers found photogrammetry to study whales. By that over the past 65 years, hatcheries have viewing whales from above instead of from shifted both the size and time at which the side, scientists can study whale body juvenile salmon are released which resulted proportions over time to identify when in reduced variability. whales are pregnant, leaner or even showing signs of sickness. Most recently SR3 SeaLife Other research suggests that predation Response, Rehabilitation and Research on juvenile salmon by avian and marine was able to successfully collect 80,586 mammal species could be size-dependent, high resolution vertical images of Southern with preference towards fish between 9-15 Resident killer whales during 133 flights of cm in length – the same size range that their remotely-controlled octocopter drone hatcheries have shifted too. Release times in between 2018 and 2020. the season have shifted earlier in the Strait of Georgia and later in Puget Sound providing Photogrammetry measurements allow an un-natural ‘pulse’ of juveniles within a scientists to monitor the rate of individual much narrower window than wild stocks growth, assess both seasonal and annual which could also be contributing to predator trends in body condition and update behavior. estimates of reproductive success. As part of this grant, regular communication on A new working group has formed to develop photogrammetry metrics were standardized experiments to maximize survival of hatchery and communicated to management agencies origin Chinook which have been incorporated in both the United States and Canada to help into hatchery guidance. Current KWCF grants inform key recovery actions. are piloting these experiments and working Left: Photo of whale pod from octocopter | SR3 to modify predator behavior while we learn Above: Chart depicting how changes in smolt size may In a similar way, a grant to NOAA Fisheries the results of their efforts. increase Chinook predation| NOAA discovered unknown consequences of KWRCF Projects | Visualizing Boater Sound
The soundscape that killer whales are living in is so loud it is hard to eat - but new boater laws are working to reduce these impacts.
One of the first KWRCF grants enabled The image on the facing page is taken NOAA Fisheries to explore the impacts of from an animation that shows the acoustic boating sound on whale behavior as the environment around whale J11 on the agency refined boating requirements around afternoon of July 4th 2004, when she was Southern Residents. This research used 32 years old. A sensor was used to track suction cup DTAGs to monitor dives and her movements and the 18 boats that were vocalizations or echolocation and movement observed within 1000m of her during that patterns that are common during foraging session. The blue ellipse around the whale and feeding. These whale sounds and represents the maximum zone of audibility behaviors were then analyzed against vessel of echolocation clicks under quiet conditions, received noise levels, vessel number, speeds, and in this particularly noisy example, her distance and the use of echo sounder signals actual foraging space is not visible on the plot to better understand the impacts that vessel because it was reduced to a range less than a presence and sound has on whale behavior. body length.
A grant to Ocean’s Initiative allowed the This type of visualization of data in a time team to translate this type of data on boat series can help show how whales change type, number, distance, and speed into behavior (speed, direction, feeding, etc.) predictions of the received noise level from in response to noise and communicate the whale’s perspective. Using real data the problem to both managers and the examples the team established a model to public. Other KWRCF awards are supporting estimate the reduction in the range over outreach to boaters to make them aware which echolocation clicks like those used to of their impacts and how to both reduce Left: Screenshot from animation of whale soundscape Above: Soundwatch conducting outreach to boaters navigate and feed could be audible over the them and comply with current regulations to background noise level. protect whales.
KWRCF Projects | Why Aren’t there More Babies?
KWRCF grantees have used dogs to find whale scat, studied mucus and even milked whales at SeaWorld in their efforts to understand how contaminants are impacting whale health and reproductive success.
The 31 potentially reproductive females in the SRKW in times of low nutrition and are passed on from population should have had 48 births between 2008 females to their calves. A study by NOAA Fisheries in and 2015, yet only 28 births were recorded during partnership with SeaWorld quantified the high doses that period. KWRCF-supported researchers have of contaminants that are passed from females to learned that the whales are pregnant more often nursing calves. In this first ever study on contaminant than scientists realized but are often not making it transfer from females to their calves during gestation to term. And when a pregnancy is successful, the and lactation for any whale or dolphin species they number and the time between pregnancies can affect proved what other studies seemed to be suggesting. the calf’s chances of survival. Keeping contaminants out of the water and out of the food chain is needed to reduce the contaminant A grant to the University of Washington used loads to future fat stores and to increase the second, hormone levels in scat sample data to determine that third and fourth calves’ chances of survival. 69% of detectable pregnancies were unsuccessful. Low availability of Chinook salmon was shown to be Unfortunately, toxins are not the only pollutants an important stressor as well as a significant cause of that are impacting killer whales. Research support late pregnancy failure. to NOAA Fisheries examined the microbiome of Southern Residents and found disturbing results. Ocean Wise Conservation Association found that, Detection of indicator bacteria in tissues, including despite a 40-year ban on PCBs, they are still found mucus from the upper respiratory tract, suggest that in the Southern Resident population. Health whales are being exposed anthropogenic biological analysis revealed PCB-associated effects on genes pollution in sufficiently high volumes, and sewage is involved in stress response, growth, development likely a major contributor. and reproduction. Most individuals sampled were Left: Photo of mother and calf | SR3 Above: Sample collection at SeaWorld | NOAA carrying loads above the thresholds known to impact Current KWRCF projects and NFWF-leveraged marine mammal health. projects are working to both identify sources of toxicants in the nearshore environments and reduce These contaminants in the blubber may be released toxins and sewage from entering killer whale habitat. KWRCF Projects | 2020 Grants A Comprehensive Approach The Killer Whale Research and Conservation Fund is working to achieve the shared goals of the Orca Task Force on issues critical to sustained recovery success.
Skagit County Public Works Friends of the San Juans Chinook and providing a nonlethal option to Restoring Habitat for Chinook Salmon in the South Bolster Protection of Forage Fish Habitat to address predation. Fork of the Skagit River (WA) Increase Survival of Juvenile Chinook Salmon (WA) Grant Amount: $152,538 Complete construction and restoration of 5 acres Foster relationships with public and private of off-channel pool habitat along the South Fork of landowners to prevent further loss of forage Ocean Wise Conservation Association the Skagit River in Washington. Project will create fish and juvenile Chinook salmon habitat Reducing Disturbance of Southern Resident Killer vital rearing habitat for juvenile Chinook salmon, from shoreline hardening in San Juan County, Whales from Vessel Traffic (WA) ultimately increasing prey availability for Southern Washington. Project will engage landowners Reduce physical and acoustic disturbance of Resident killer whales. through site visits, feasibility studies and southern resident killer whales caused by vessel Grant Amount: $200,000 preliminary design to protect and restore vital traffic in Washington State waters. Project rearing and feeding habitat for out-migrating will increase the use and functionality of the The Nature Conservancy Chinook salmon. WhaleReport Alert System in British Columbia and Restoring Habitat for Chinook Salmon in Port Grant Amount: $84,797 Washington State to employ voluntary measures Established a new method to Analyze historical data to Mid-term: Work to reduce Long-term: Restore forage fish Susan Bay Estuary (WA) to benefit killer whales. study nutrition and health understand impact of vessels disturbance from boats and juvenile salmon habitat in Restore 150 acres of rearing habitat and monitor Long Live the Kings Grant Amount: $100,000 on feeding behavior priority runs the effect of restored hydrologic connectivity Protecting Chinook and Steelhead Salmon from on salmonids and marsh habitats at Port Susan Harbor Seal Predation (WA) Bay, Washington. Project will improve habitat Test an innovative seal deterrent technology, connectivity, lower site salinity, and support the GenusWave acoustic startle device, in the vegetation growth for Chinook salmon, a vital Nisqually Estuary, Washington. Project will test KWRCF is helping whales find food today while working to fix the food chain and feed source of food for Southern Resident killer whales. the effectiveness of the acoustic startle device, whales long into the future Grant Amount: $200,000 reducing predation-related mortality of juvenile
Photos: SR3, NOAA Fisheries, and Restore America’s Estuaries KWRCF Projects | 2020 Grants
San Juan County WA Public Works development sites in the Puget Sound Oceans Initiative Improving Recreational Boater Behavior and region. Project will expand the “Clean Water Assess the Impact of Intestinal Parasites on Compliance Around Southern Resident Killer for Salmon, Clean Water for Killer Whales” Southern Resident Killer Whale Recovery (WA) Whales (WA) campaign to reduce water quality impacts on Project Summary: Establish a new health metric Improve recreational boater regulatory the Puget Sound via strategic application of and tool for understanding Southern Resident compliance around Southern Resident killer certification, developer incentives, and other killer whale condition. Project will investigate whales in the Salish Sea. Project will expand the market-based tools. archived fecal samples and photogrammetry whale warning flag program to additional critical Grant Amount: $75,000 data to explore relationships between intestinal habitat areas and develop new and innovative parasite presence and body condition and outreach campaigns to increase awareness of Pacific Marine Mammal Center establish a diagnostic tool to identify an ailing regulations with targeted audiences known to Developing Standards for Early Indicators of whale that may need management intervention. have high non-compliance. Change in Killer Whale Health (WA) Grant Amount: $30,000 Grant Amount: $52,812 Evaluate the feasibility of remotely assessing early indicators of change in Southern Resident Salmon-Safe killer whale health while in the Salish Sea. Engaging Puget Sound Developers to Increase Project will enhance the early identification of Water Quality to Benefit Killer Whale declining or improving health of whales and Populations (WA) understand relationships in body condition, Left: Community member research forage fish Implement best management practices fecundity and survivorship. available to migrating Chinook salmon | Kwiaht: for stormwater runoff on 25 high priority Grant Amount: $53,566 Center for the Historical Ecology of the Salish Sea KWRCF Leverage | 2020 Grants Leveraging NFWF Resources | 2015-2020 By having a focused program on killer whales, NFWF can look across funding opportunities and partnerships to drive funding that will benefit the population. Quileute Tribe Puget Sound of Washington State. Project will Port of Lopez Lower Quillayute River Restoration (WA) determine feasibility of restoring diked farmland Port of Lopez Mobile Marine Pumpout Vessel Implement restoration actions on the Quillayute to its former tidal estuary and wetland condition (WA) When research conducted by NOAA Fisheries identified pathogens associated with River, through a combination of riverbank to increase available critical habitat and improve The Port of Lopez is interested in helping sewage could be impacting killer whale health, NFWF directed over$760,000 from stabilization, construction of a boat launch community resilience of this regionally identified to preserve the integrity of the marine the Impact Directed Environmental Accounts program to five ports to prevent serving the dual purposes of better access for critical nearshore habitat. environment in Fisherman Bay and surrounding pollutants at their locations and increase their capacity to service pump-out needs tribal fishermen while reducing bank erosion, Grant Amount $155,000 waters by providing a mobile marine pump for the large number of boaters that traverse killer whale habitat. Funding will and excavation of side channels with placement out vessel that will operate during the boating of woody material to provide off-channel Port of Friday Harbor season, from roughly May until late September. remove creosote pilings, install floating sewer pump-out stations, furnish pump out habitat for salmonids and other fish species. Port of Friday Harbor Marine Pollution A Marine mobile pump out vessel will help boats to service a broad area and establish a waterfront marine spill response and Project will restore floodplain connectivity, Prevention (WA) reduce the amount of illegal dumping of marine training facility in critical killer whale habitat to greatly reduce response time to improve habitat, address erosion, and protect The Port of Friday Harbor plans construction of sewage holding tanks and help to keep the localized spills. regionally vital infrastructure. a waterfront marine spill response facility, to waters of the Salish Sea free of pollution and Grant Amount $1,500,000 effectively and quickly respond to oil spills and nutrient loading. Salmon habitat restoration, even for just the runs prioritized for killer whales, is a mitigate impacts from dumping along 300 miles Grant Amount $100,000 job well beyond what the Killer Whale Research and Conservation Fund can do on Whidbey Camano Land Trust of shorelines of diverse and vital marine habitat. its own. Fortunately, a National Coastal Resilience Fund was established in 2018 Conducting a Feasibility Study and Creating a The port will also purchase and construct that had overlapping goals of restoring large tracks of green infrastructure. In Restoration Design for Livingston Bay (WA) holding facilities and equipment for human the first three years of this program,$4.5 million in funding has been directed to Determine the feasibility of estuary and effluent waste collection to facilitate the timed wetland restoration, with the goal of acquiring release of waste products into the municipal restore nearshore and riparian habitats to reduce flooding for coastal communities Left: Recreational boats in Fishermen Bay, San and subsequently restoring critical habitat on treatment system, allowing for additional while increasing quality habitat for chinook salmon populations. In just three years, Juan Islands approximately 292 acres of diked farmland collection of effluent from boaters. investments under this program will restore 1,375 acres of important estuary Next Page: Salmon habitat restoration site at in Livingston Bay on Camano Island in the Grant Amount $400,000 habitat for juvenile salmon and prepare the designs for another 290 acres. Leque Island Our Goals for 2021
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Increase collaboration Explore new partnerships Coordinate funding with amongst salmon to increase water quality other NFWF efforts around restoration efforts to set focused projects and the Columbia River Basin mid and long-term goals broader reduction of and restoration for coastal for NFWF to pursue in marine sound throughout community resiliency in coordination with federal, the Salish Sea. Washington and Oregon to state, tribal and regional further restoration goals. NGO efforts.
We’re Just Getting Started! FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE KILLER WHALE RESEARCH AND CONSERVATION FUND, PLEASE CALL: 202-857-0166 OR VISIT: WWW.NFWF.ORG/KILLERWHALES
NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION 1133 Fifteenth Street NW, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20005 (202) 857-0166 www.nfwf.org/killerwhales
PHOTOGRAPHY: Ocean’s Initiative (P.8), The *THE VIEWS AND CONCLUSIONS CONTAINED IN THIS DOCUMENT ARE THOSE OF THE NATIONAL FISH Whale Museum (P.9), Port of Lopez (P.16), AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION AND SHOULD NOT BE INTERPRETED AS REPRESENTING THE OPINIONS OR Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife POLICIES OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT. MENTION OF TRADE NAMES OR COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS DOES (p. 18); All other images are as referenced or NOT CONSTITUTE THEIR ENDORSEMENT BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT. by iStock.