Whales are Healthy. Open it up.

[fish4all]

Southern resident orca pod in best condition in decade

To a greater degree than in many other animals, including humans, the southern resident orcas put family first. Their society is matriarchal, with the pods led by grandmothers and mothers.

vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca

 

[Salmon Seeker]

you know they're going to look at this and say " see the fishing restrictions and sanctuary areas worked!"

 

[fish4all]

you know they're going to look at this and say " see the fishing restrictions and sanctuary areas worked!"

Without a doubt. Seeing the newly invigorated push to close hunting and fishing I would say the city folks and government have us all screwed.

 

[tinboatrobb]

keep the whale watchers away and they will continue to thrive.

 

[searun]

There's been a lot of guess work that has gone into some of the sanctuary measures thus far. From the research I've read on the topic SRKW acquire prey in deeper water and chase them down until the Chinook run out of gas. This generally happens in 300 feet or more of water. Any shallower and its easier for salmon to outrun the whale and hide in structure. Many of the Sanctuaries are located along the coastline in shallower waters, not ideal for forage activity which doesn't make sense to me anyway. Larger Fraser fish also migrate along the outside deep water edge of the Swiftsure Canyon, which is ideal water depth for the whale's hunting strategy. So from what I see there seems to be a disconnect between the sanctuary measures and habitat areas best suited and used for whale prey acquisition strategies.

Also of note, is there aren't really any more or less salmon available to SRKW. Abundance hasn't shifted markedly. The only change has been keeping vessels back from whales to allow them to do what they do. Physical and acoustic disturbance can be easily addressed by implementing a 400m bubble avoidance zone. BTW, many of the fixed sanctuary areas had very limited use by SRKW so how effective is this strategy really? It does however make for good media and keeping up appearances we are "doing something."

Another change (not noted in popular media) is with the passing of the old guard patriarchs and their leadership based on old salmon patterns, the new leaders are now branching out finding salmon more successfully because they are leading the group to better hunting areas. Not a lot different than watching a bunch of recreational fishers - some are really good at finding fish, others not so much.