As we continue the discussion of the best ways to help our endangered Southern Resident orcas recover, it is crucial that the public is given correct information and statements based on the best available science.

With this in mind, we felt compelled to address some of the misinformation in Mark Anderson’s article on the state of the orca.

Mr. Anderson correctly states that “Chinook salmon counts matter most”, yet he goes on to say that “whale watch boats are directly responsible for the death of our local whales”.

While there is a body of peer-reviewed scientific literature demonstrating the effects of boats on killer whales, all of these studies were taken into account in the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s new vessel regulations and none of them claim that vessel noise “blinds” echolocation or communication at 200 yards away, as Anderson speculates. Nor do any of these studies claim that whale-watching boats are directly responsible for the deaths of our local whales.

General consensus among most scientists and members of the whale community is that salmon recovery is of the utmost importance to resident killer whale survival, and that in the meantime the precautionary approach should help us govern our vessel regulations and guidelines for safe boating practices around the Southern Residents.

Mr. Anderson states that we continue to lose many prime age breeding whales, putting young calves on a “deadly conveyor belt”. The two whales lost in the last year — J-1, a 59 year-old male, and L-7, a 50 year-old female, were both older whales, and at least in L-7’s case, beyond reproductive years. Looking at the last 45 whales that have died since 1998, 20 of them were theoretically of reproductive age, while 25 of them were calves, juveniles, or post-reproductive females.

According to Center for Whale Research data, two-thirds of female calves reach age 40 and one-third of male calves reach age 25. The small effective population size of the Southern Residents is a concern, but the current population bottleneck has more to do with the loss of an entire breeding class of whales during the capture era of the early 1970s than with anything else.

Mr. Anderson states that all the pods seem to be producing only females, which is actually opposite of what is true. At her July 6 lecture at The Whale Museum, Astrid van Ginnekan of the Center for Whale Research explained that the juvenile male/female ratio of whales of known gender is 7:7 in J-Pod, 7:2 in K-Pod, and 8:2 in L-Pod. She speculated that perhaps toxins are to blame for the male-biased gender ratio in K and L Pods, since they spend time off the California coast in winter and are exposed to higher toxin levels (a theory supported by Krahn et al 2007).

Additionally, Anderson makes the claim that K-Pod recently had no breeding age males. This was true for a brief period, but they have had a male of breeding age (K21) for the last decade, and now have three adult males (K21, K25, K26).

The new study “proving inbreeding” referred to by Mr. Anderson demonstrated that male Southern Resident orcas do sire offspring within their own pod (Ford et al 2011). While intra-pod mating has not been observed in research on Northern Resident killer whales, no data existed for Southern Residents until this study. Despite mating within pods, this study found no evidence for mating within matrilines or with direct relatives in other matrilines, and the “average internal relatedness of individuals was significantly less than expected if mating were random”.

In conclusion, Mr. Anderson argues for the creation of a no-go zone for motorized whale watch vessels on the west side of San Juan Island. Anderson’s desire to exclude only motorized commercial whale watch vessels (who account for less than 15 percent of guideline infractions according to 2010 Soundwatch data) and not kayakers, sport or commercial fisherman, or private boaters (the group guilty of the majority of violations, based on 2010 Soundwatch data), seems to indicate a particular bias against this group of boaters rather than a desire to truly create a quiet sanctuary for our whales.

NOAA spent more than two years crafting the new vessel regulations that went into effect this spring, and we trust they will continue to be reevaluated as new data emerges. Most commercial whale-watch companies not only follow these regulations, but the recommended Be Whale Wise guidelines that further respect the Southern Resident killer whales, and while doing so play an important role in educating visitors about all the issues our endangered orcas face.

Vessel disturbances are only one of the three identified risk factors to Southern Residents and this risk factor is being addressed. We think it’s time for all of us to put our energy into dealing with the two bigger issues of contaminants and prey availability.

Monika Wieland

San Juan Island

— Submitted on behalf of the San Juan Island Whale Watching Association:Capt. Carli’s Whale Watch, Legacy Charters, Maya’s Westside Charters, San Juan Excursions, San Juan Outfitters, San Juan Safaris, Western Prince Whale & Wildlife Tours