NEWSLETTER OF THE PUGET SOUND CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN CETACEAN SOCIETY “The Saltwater We Know” N EWSLETTER OF THE PUGET SOUND CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN CETACEAN SOCIETY VOLUME 5, ISSUE 2 SPRING 2004 Next Meeting Chapter Currents May 19th by Uko Gorter, ACS/PS President Along with Spring, and the quickening our new fundraising chair. If you are inter- Anna Hall - pace of life in the higher latitudes, we also ested in becoming involved with our chap- have some new energy on our chapter ter, please let us know. You don't have to “Holidaying Harbor board. We are delighted to welcome be an expert on whales or dolphins. We do Darcie Larson, to the ACS/PS board. need enthusiastic folks who are willing to Porpoise” commit a bit of extra time. Of course it Darcie is the Administrative Manager/ helps being passionate about cetaceans. Harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) occur Development Associate with Save Our year round in the waters of southern British Wild Salmon, a coalition of groups cham- The Puget Sound Chapter of the American Columbia, but little is known about their pioning for the removal of the dams in Cetacean Society needs your help more seasonal abundance, habitat use and food the lower Snake river. She gave a highly than ever. In order to continue to bring habits. A marine survey was undertaken to informative and interesting presentation awareness of the plight of whales and dol- on that topic at our meeting in March of phins to our community, to keep funding (Continued on page 4) this year. She has also interned with the research done in our local waters and in Whale Museum and Sound Watch in disadvantaged countries in the world, and Friday Harbor. Darcie joins our board as (Continued on page 7) Event Information All speaker series events meet on the 3rd Green Concert for a Blue Planet Wednesday of the month at the Phinney Neighborhood Center, Room 6, 6532 Phin- Please join us for a fabulous, fun-filled, • Paula Maya, a Brazilian singer, song- ney Ave. N., Seattle, just north of the fundraising concert Sunday June 13th writer and great Keyboardist. Woodland Park Zoo. Doors open at 7pm hosted by the City Cantabile Choir and and the program starts at 7:30pm. the Puget Sound Chapter of ACS. This • Trina Willard, a super talented singer- Plenty of free parking is available in the concert will be a feast for your eyes and songwriter with her back up trio. upper and lower parking lots. Admission is ears. free—donations are gratefully appreciated. Some of the groups the concert pro- (Continued on page 3) ceeds benefit are People for Puget Inside... Sound, Save Our Wild Salmon, ACS/ PS (us!) and The City Cantabile Choir. OrcaSing 2004 Vashon Hydrophone Project...................2 State declares SRKW endangered ..........3 The program features a multi-talented The Sixth Annual OrcaSing by the City A. Foote and R. Osborne in Nature........3 group of singers and musicians: Cantabile Choir directed by Fred West and Luna Update via Orcalab.........................4 co-sponsored by ACS/PS, will be held on Cetacean Systematics Symposium...........4 • Members of the Children of the Saturday, June 19, @ 7pm, at Lime Kiln Antarctic Killer Whale types....................5 Revolution Park on San Juan Island. Bowhead Whales—Fun Facts.................6 June meeting preview, Dr. K. Laidre, • The City Cantabile Choir con- This tribute to our beloved orcas has been GreenlandVolume bowhead 5, Issue foraging 2 ecology....6 ductedWhulj by Fred West. featured in CBS' Spring60 minutes. 2004 — page 1 NEWSLETTER OF THE PUGET SOUND CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN CETACEAN SOCIETY Whulj Vashon Hydrophone Project “the saltwater we know” (VHP) Update The Newsletter of by Ann Stateler, VHP Coordinator the Puget Sound Chapter of the American Cetacean Society When ACS/PS installed the Vashon hydrophone in January 2004, we anticipated we would collect acoustic data on the P.O. Box 17136 Southern Resident killer whales for another six to eight weeks. Seattle, WA 98127-0836 Since I started collaborating with VHP associate researcher 206-781-4860 Mark Sears in 1994, we have documented Southern Residents, J, [email protected] K, and L Pods, visiting central Puget Sound annually between September and March. Some years they have appeared as early as August or as late as April. ACS/PS Board The Southern Residents continually surprise me. All three pods broke their pattern of the last seven years and departed central OFFICERS Puget Sound by early January this year. Mark and I had no con- President - Uko Gorter, [email protected] firmed sightings in our area after January 9. Vice President - Ann Stateler, [email protected] We monitor the hydrophone continuously. I am confident Treasurer - Jack Crose, [email protected] Southern Residents did not slip by the VHP site undetected. In Secretary - Steve Olson, [email protected] the absence of orca vocalizations, we are keeping an ear out, so to speak, for interesting recording opportunities: perhaps a gray BOARD MEMBERS whale or Dall’s porpoises. Chapter Delegate - Uko Gorter, [email protected] We will be prepared for next season. The Vashon Hydrophone Conservation Chair - Ann Stateler, Project (VHP) provides a valuable tool for Puget Sound orca [email protected] studies. The VHP will help us learn more about the winter dis- Education Chair - Peggy Foreman, tribution, travel, and foraging areas of our endangered Southern [email protected] Resident killer whales. This underwater microphone is the first Fundraising Chair - Darcie Larson, and only hydrophone in Puget Sound dedicated to Southern Resident orca [email protected] recovery, research, and conservation! General Meetings - Joe Olson, [email protected] We are grateful to Richard Rogers for donating a color printer Grants Chair - Stephanie Norman, to the VHP. The VHP requires funding to develop our educa- [email protected] tional component, for maintenance, and future expansion. See Membership Chair - Uko Gorter, our wish list below. [email protected] Past President - Joe Olson, ACS/PS and VHP wish list: [email protected] San Juan Islands Delegate - Erin O’Connell, • A laptop computer for our educational programs [email protected] • LCD (PowerPoint) projector Special Events Chair - Fred West, • An ultrasound interface that will allow us to better monitor [email protected] and record sounds twice as high as humans can hear; e.g., Technology Chair - Joe Olson, sounds from porpoises and higher frequencies produced by [email protected] orcas. ACS/PS Scientific Advisors Check our web site, www.acspugetsound.org, for more VHP information and updates. Dr. David Bain, Dr. Robin Baird, John Calambokidis, Dr. Marilyn Dahlheim, Dr. John Ford, Dr. Richard Osborne, To support the VHP with tax deductible donations, please write Dr. Adam Pack, and Dr. Peter Ross checks to: ACS/Puget Sound Chapter, specify VASHON HP in memo Whulj publication schedule: February, May, August, November section, and send to: ACS/Puget Sound Chapter, P.O. Box Editor - Diane Allen, [email protected] - 360-437-1303 17136, Seattle, WA 98127-0836. Thank you! 46 Village Way, ste 171, Port Ludlow WA 98365 page 2 — Spring 2004 Whulj Volume 5, Issue 2 NEWSLETTER OF THE PUGET SOUND CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN CETACEAN SOCIETY Killer Whales Listed as Endangered Species in Washington State by Ann Stateler, Conservation Chair In April, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission voted population, the Department believes that killer whales in Wash- unanimously to list killer whales as a state endangered species. ington, predominantly the Southern Residents, are at risk of The “Washington State Status Report for the Killer Whale,” by extinction from all or a significant portion of their range in Gary J. Wiles of the Washington Department of Fish and Wild- Washington and recommends that the species be listed as en- life (WDFW), cited several major threats to Washington’s killer dangered in the state,” concludes WDFW’s report. whales, especially the Southern Residents. These threats are from: Visit WDFW’s web site at http://wdfw.wa.gov to see the re- port or order a copy of it. NOAA Fisheries (NMFS) is also con- • Depleted prey resources, mainly salmon ducting a Southern Resident status review for a federal Endan- • Contamination from persistent bioaccumulative toxins, gered Species Act listing. Their review will be completed in De- mostly PCBs and DDT residues cember. • Oil spills • Interference with foraging and other adverse behavioral impacts from the recent proliferation of commercial and Can you hear me now? private whale watching boats. local researchers featured in current issue of the highly respected magazine, Nature The report deems these threats “unlikely to diminish in the fu- review by Uko Gorter ture.” The Southern Resident killer whale population fell by nearly 20% between 1995 and 2001, from 99 to just 80 orcas. Ever noticed how more and more folks feel the need to yell Researchers noted this unprecedented decline resulted from through their cellular phones? Even when they¹re in a quiet poor survival rates of whales across age groups and sexes. environment. Has increased noise levels around us made us raise our voices? Well, something similar seems to be happen- Since the Center for Whale Research started its annual Orca ing to our well-known Southern Resident Killer Whales, al- Survey in 1974, J and K Pods have increased slightly from 15 though they’ve perfected wireless communication long before and 14 members to 22 and 21 members in 2003, respectively. L we did. Pod has plummeted, from a peak of 59 in 1993 to 41 contribut- ing members in 2003, just two more than in 1974. Andrew Foote, of the University of Durham , UK, and recipi- ent of our chapter’s 2004 grants award; Richard Osborne, of “Because of the combination of low population numbers, the the Whale Museum in Friday Harbor, WA; and Rus Hoelzel, recent steep decline in L Pod, and continued threats to the also of the University of Durham, have published their recent findings in the April 29 issue of Nature magazine.