Strategy for the Northern and Southern Resident Killer Whales

[Peahead]

Admittedly I do not have an extensive background or history with this fishery, and I sure have no love for the federal gov't; however I do see a lot of "snipping" about things we have little control over. I think this problem can be boiled down into a few major categories, and suggest if we can press all levels of gov't in these areas we may actually make some strides in improving not only the SDKW, but all levels of our BC fisheries:
My thoughts on the major problems:
1) lack of food source on which bait can feed; lack of bait (ie herring), less bait leads to smaller food stocks (salmon), boat noise from whale watchers, who are the only group who actually persue ORCAs, environment ( from warmer water, to chemicals and plastics in the water) ..
To solve these problems we should press ALL forms of government to
1) ban the use of sunblock sun screen in all fish bearing streams - sun block in sun screen is a proven contaminent and a killer of animal life in waterways.
2) drastically reduce harvesting of bait fish such as herring.. killing herring to harvest eggs is unconsionable
3) drastically curtain sightseeing boats (200 m is rediculous.. what about 1 km.. what do you see at 200 m that can't be seen at 1 km)
4) what's wrong with closing area 123 on a trial basis ? leaving area 23 open for recreational fishing
5) local gov't must isolate and collect all forms of plastics so it doesn't enter the waterways
6) treatments plants for both Van Is and the Lower Mainland are underway

As far as point number 6) goes, Victoria has stepped up with regards to treating sewage as it is apparently building a Tertiary facility there. GOOD FOR VICTORIA!
A Tertiary system is the best system to prevent sewage/toxins from entering the Salish Sea. Metro Vancouver has apparently come up short for the Lions Gate North Vancouver plant, choosing to build a less costly secondary treatment facility that will soon be below required standard for treatment of sewage. Metro Vancouver 's reason for turning down the Tertiary option and allowing minimally treated sewage and toxins to be washed into Vancouver Harbour is that presently discharging via Secondary treatment specifically into tidal waters is legal . Apparently this is changing so my understanding is that they may be trying to build this in advance of the requirement becoming the more expensive, efficient Tertiary system. The other interesting benefit to a Tertiary system is that it creates fish habitat, where the Secondary system does not. As well, switching a Secondary system build to a Tertiary system later might not even be possible and my understanding that even if it is, the cost is far more than building Tertiary to begin with.

This all comes at an interesting time considering the SRKW issue and declines being partially blamed on toxins and polluted waters.

Below is a copy of an article written by Glen Parker in an Engineers and Geoscientist BC Mag. called 'Innovation' . March/April 2018

 

[GLG]

Policy draft from our friends to the south.
https://www.governor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/SRKWDraftReport_09-24-18.pdf

 

[searun]

Sad state of the reality of our political short sightedness. Where are the greens now? Guess they aren't leading the "I'll pay more to protect the environment" movement, because it wouldn't sell memberships.

If our idea of putting something back into protecting the environment amounts to simply continuing to flush as usual (pun intended), that is indeed a sad day for Salmon and predators such as RKW that rely upon them as a tainted food source.

 

[OldBlackDog]

So can we guess that there are none of these tertiary facilities in all of BC?

I cannot see any.

That would explain why seals are so toxic

As far as point number 6) goes, Victoria has stepped up with regards to treating sewage as it is apparently building a Tertiary facility there. GOOD FOR VICTORIA!
A Tertiary system is the best system to prevent sewage/toxins from entering the Salish Sea. Metro Vancouver has apparently come up short for the Lions Gate North Vancouver plant, choosing to build a less costly secondary treatment facility that will soon be below required standard for treatment of sewage. Metro Vancouver 's reason for turning down the Tertiary option and allowing minimally treated sewage and toxins to be washed into Vancouver Harbour is that presently discharging via Secondary treatment specifically into tidal waters is legal . Apparently this is changing so my understanding is that they may be trying to build this in advance of the requirement becoming the more expensive, efficient Tertiary system. The other interesting benefit to a Tertiary system is that it creates fish habitat, where the Secondary system does not. As well, switching a Secondary system build to a Tertiary system later might not even be possible and my understanding that even if it is, the cost is far more than building Tertiary to begin with.

This all comes at an interesting time considering the SRKW issue and declines being partially blamed on toxins and polluted waters.

Below is a copy of an article written by Glen Parker in an Engineers and Geoscientist BC Mag. called 'Innovation' . March/April 2018


View attachment 40588

 

[SaltyAlice]

This popped up in my Facebook feed today, posted by the Salish Seas Orcas group:
“Some exciting news for the Salish Sea orcas. NOAA, SR3, and CORI have identified 3 late term pregnancies (1 from each pod!) including Deadhead (K-27) pictured on the right.

Pictured on the left for comparison is Princess Angeline (J-17) 1 month before giving birth in 2015.”

 

[ziggy]

So can we guess that there are none of these tertiary facilities in all of BC?

I cannot see any.

That would explain why seals are so toxic

I believe Seattle and Port Angeles do not have tertiary systems either. So at the very least the two largest cities in the area, Seattle and Vancouver stop at secondary treatment.

 

[bones]

So can we guess that there are none of these tertiary facilities in all of BC?

I cannot see any.

That would explain why seals are so toxic

Min compliance is 2 and the new one in burrard is also a 2. The BCWF has been asking for tier 1 and your right none in province.

 

[wildmanyeah]

Lack of Chinook salmon and the stress it is placing on the endangered Southern Resident Orca population

Ken Balcomb

In this 4:30 minute interview with Ken Balcomb in July 2017, he talks about the lack of Chinook salmon and the stress it is placing on the endangered Southern Resident Orca population.

Here are some highlights from that interview:

“By 1985 there were no Chinook left in Puget Sound … And now we are pretty much seeing the same thing here.”

“The salmon are smaller, much less numerous, and they are virtually all hatchery fish.”

“Nobody ever thought about the whales. We began to raise our voice a little bit but at the time the Southern Residents had just gone through a couple decades of gunfire and shooting because fisherman were trying to get rid of the competition. They (Orcas) all carried lead bullets in their bodies but rarely did they get killed. We didn’t want to raise the salmon issue in the 80’s, when salmon were already going down and have more whales shot.”

“We know they eat salmon so let’s solve the salmon problem.”

 

[ziggy]

Funny how he talks about fishermen shooting whales which was absolutely wrong,and yet no mention of the even worse , government approved , Aquarium/Amusement Park captures and accidental deaths during those captures, during the 70’s and late 60’s. You would think that the reduction of about 30% of the population would be worthy of mention? I find it interesting how often this topic is glossed over!

 

[Fishmyster]

"So let's solve the salmon problem"
Well for that you would have to solve the vanishing aquatic invertebrate and supporting ecology problem. But to solve that you would eventually have to research water chemistry so not much chance of any NGO or DFO doing that because water testing is to complicated and expensive.

 

[Dave]

Ziggy, are you saying Orcas weren't shot by sporties and commies back then? If so, I have a bridge for you, cheap.

 

[GLG]

Funny how he talks about fishermen shooting whales which was absolutely wrong,and yet no mention of the even worse , government approved , Aquarium/Amusement Park captures and accidental deaths during those captures, during the 70’s and late 60’s. You would think that the reduction of about 30% of the population would be worthy of mention? I find it interesting how often this topic is glossed over!

Unfortunately we don't possess a workable time machine so what we do today and in the future is what counts. We could go down that rabbit hole but that does not offer solutions to the problem of what policy we need to take.

 

[GLG]

This popped up in my Facebook feed today, posted by the Salish Seas Orcas group:
“Some exciting news for the Salish Sea orcas. NOAA, SR3, and CORI have identified 3 late term pregnancies (1 from each pod!) including Deadhead (K-27) pictured on the right.

Pictured on the left for comparison is Princess Angeline (J-17) 1 month before giving birth in 2015.”

 

[GLG]

Fellas I think he was inferring that it was wrong for them to do it. That's how I read it at least.

 

[wildmanyeah]

As I said before this entire thing is about getting that pipeline through, and those opposed to it. If you guys can't see it now I am not sure how it becomes more clear. The government has now 5-6 months to go back to NEB board. If you look at the timeline doesn't it fit with the timing of our Chinook fishery announcements next year? The government has no plans to stop tanker traffic it is going tell the NEB it is addressing the issues with acoustic noise the whales by reducing recreational and whale watching boating noise. I really hope I am wrong here, but you see where this is going. Just something to think about and add to the discussion.

yeah your theory has been more then confirmed now. The more support the ENGO can drum up for the killer whales the higher the changes the pipeline gets squashed!

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/southern-resident-orca-update-1-sick-others-pregnant-1.4109470

"The federal fisheries minister is also keeping an eye on the whale population as the Liberals try to move forward with the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
Speaking in Ottawa Tuesday, Jonathan Wilkinson said it will be more difficult to green light the project if the National Energy Board's new review finds an increased supply being sent through the pipeline between Alberta and B.C. would put killer whales at risk.
He said such a finding wouldn't mean cabinet would reject the twinning completely, but that the federal government would have to be convinced the species is being protected.
"Cabinet has to consider that very seriously, but it has to then be convinced that we've done the appropriate things to actually more than mitigate the impact of the shipping traffic," Wilkinson said.
He said shipping lanes were moved and speed limits lowered in effort to protect the whales' habitats, but he acknowledged that further protections may be possible pending review."

 

[ziggy]

Unfortunately we don't possess a workable time machine so what we do today and in the future is what counts. We could go down that rabbit hole but that does not offer solutions to the problem of what policy we need to take.

Exactly, so why mention the whales had once been shot, or that there was a salmon shortage in the 80’s? Perhaps also mentioning better than 30 whales had been killed or captured may have contributed to a whale shortage in the local area as opposed to implying it was all due to lack of salmon would have been more appropriate. We cannot discount what past policies have done to exacerbate the current problem even if we can’t change them. The video’s whole purpose was to emphasize how we arrived at where we’re at and purpose a solution! While we can’t go back and undo the work of the past experts, we need to remember it was the capture that they thought was OK that did the most damage, not fishermen with rifles. To discount the relationship between past present and future is certainly not a means of finding a working solution IMO, especially if we are working from selective memory.

 

[ziggy]

You might want to check in to BC history before making such a false claim. DFO actually installed a browning machine gun in seymour narrows to shoot them. It never ended up being used, but shooting them was very common as they were reviled by sport and commercial fisherman, and feared by the general public.
https://thetyee.ca/Life/2008/05/13/ShootingOrcas/

Funny how the lack of a comma can change a meaning. Fisherman shooting whales, which was wrong! I was certainly not implying it was not done nor ok. I really don’t need to read that part of BC history as I grew up on the coast and lived through those days. Thanks for the correction though.

 

[ziggy]

Fellas I think he was inferring that it was wrong for them to do it. That's how I read it at least.

Absolutely.

 

[ziggy]

Ziggy, are you saying Orcas weren't shot by sporties and commies back then? If so, I have a bridge for you, cheap.

Absolutely not and I’m not interested in your used dental work either!

 

[terrin]

Absolutely not and I’m not interested in your used dental work either!

Lol.