Well, I just finished reading that study! Good Luck on this one!
Before I address just a few things with it, I still suggest this is more than just about “Killer Whales” - but don't think that is going to make any differance!
Food for thought:
DFO basically “sold out” the WCVI Chinook fishery.
DFO reducing hatchery production of Chinook.
All WCVI Chinook in decline;
Fraser River Chinook in decline;
Cowichan Chinook in decline;
DFO establishment of the “over and under” rules – that was done to pretence to “protect” Canadian large returning four year olds runs. I used to actually believe that. Now I can only ask, if that was the real reason – why is DFO opening the mouth of every major WCVI fishery to “seine nets“? Nope – IMHO that was established for one reason – drive the sport fishery offshore to target those good ole’ U.S. Chinook!
Now consider this additional information:
DFO suggesting PST allocation of Fraser River Chinook, just for the Killer Whales. That will happen.
DFO recognizing priority of Chinook going to Subsistence Fishery;
DFO only enhancing and producing enough Chinook - as required, and by monies set within boundaries of the PST.
Last, and but by no means least; DFO publically stating, “Wild Pacific salmon have no value”!
Looking at just one section of the study:
"Clearly, the killer whale diet is not composed entirely of Chinook, so our “summer” estimate represents a more plausible summary of the various studies published to date.”
Yep, studies do completely support that Orca diet. Need more information on killer whale diet, one only needs to contact none other than “Alexandra Morton”! She was involved in that research project. At least, I am glad to see the words “summer” and “estimate” used in the following.
“ In summer months (May through September), 83% of the SRKW diet is composed of Chinook salmon, 90% of which are of Fraser River origin [18]. SRKWs are found in their core summer habitat on 79% of days from May–September [46]. We present plausible estimates of SRKW pressure on Fraser River Chinook stocks (“Summer” estimates in Table 1) by multiplying the annual energetic demand by 24.6% (namely 5/12 * 0.83 * 0.90 * 0.79). Depending on body size, the best estimate of the summer demand on Fraser River Chinook is 59,384 (range 42,000–97,600; Table 1). Depending on caloric value of Chinook and given the best estimate of body size, these lower, “summer” estimates may be as low as 52,000 and as high as 89,500 (Table 2) Fraser River Chinook consumed annually by SRKWs in core habitat in summer months."
All, with references!
"The above calculations can be used to estimate the proportion of the Fraser River Chinook salmon population that is consumed annually by SRKWs (see Methods). Average fisheries catch of Fraser River Chinook is 18,000 fish and average terminal run size is 300,000 [47]. These numbers suggest that SRKWs may consume 12% (42,000/(42,000+18,000+300,000)) to 23% (97,600/(97,600+18,000+300,000)) of available Fraser River Chinook in the region from May–September.”
Guess what, to me... Those number are actually believable. The only defense there is the... IF the only thing those Killer Whales did was set at the mouth of the Fraser and eat only the Fraser Chinook, which the don't.
“These estimates only include information available for the whales' core summertime habitat. Total abundance of Chinook may be higher than our estimates suggest because, north of the Salish Sea, Chinook salmon are harvested in commercial and sport fisheries, and by-caught in fisheries for other salmon. On the other hand, SRKWs spend little time there. We focus on the Salish Sea, because considering Chinook salmon availability in northern waters would require us also to consider the substantial demands for northern resident killer whales of Chinook salmon in that habitat.”
“Estimates” used two (2) more time – puts it up to a total of seven (7). Kind of looks “they” admit this study is incomplete and the information might be “skewed”, doesn’t it? Don't hold your breath on that one, can you say ESA!
“Our analyses suggest that takes of Fraser River Chinook by SRKWs may well exceed those from all fisheries in the Salish Sea. If the SRKW population reached 155 animals by 2029 (one recovery scenario reported in [31]), energetic requirements could become ~75% higher than those reported here.“
Yes, I agree! Through “their” analysis, it has been proven Killer Whales; while at the mouth of the Fraser River do indeed eat Fraser River Chinook. Guess what... It has also been shown during their different migration patterns they also eat Chinook from: Cowichan; the entire Puget Sound; and during winter months, the entire Columbia basin Chinook. BTW... That also includes the Snake River Chinook listed on the endangered species.
Those are the good thing "estimates" and "incomplete"! Here are your KILLERS:
Rob Williams 1, 2¤a*, Martin Krkošek 3, Erin Ashe 4¤b, Trevor A. Branch 5, Steve Clark 6, Philip S. Hammond 7, Erich Hoyt 8, Dawn P. Noren 9, David Rosen 10, Arliss Winship 11
1 University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America, 2 Marine Mammal Research Unit, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, 3 Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, 4 Oceans Initiative, Pearse Island, British Columbia, Canada, 5 School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America, 6 SeaWorld, Orlando, Florida, United States of America, 7 Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland, United Kingdom, 8 Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, North Berwick, Scotland, United Kingdom, 9 National Marine Fisheries Service, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Marine Mammal & Seabird Program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Seattle, Washington, United States of America, 10 Marine Mammal Research Unit, Fisheries Centre, Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 11 Life Sciences Centre, Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Pretty impressive! About the only thing I can ask is where and why isn't the most renouned and well known Orca researcher on the west coast (A. Morton) not on envolved with that list? Now, you have this:
[Citation: Williams R, Krkošek M, Ashe E, Branch TA, Clark S, et al. (2011) Competing Conservation Objectives for Predators and Prey: Estimating Killer Whale Prey Requirements for Chinook Salmon. PLoS ONE 6(11): e26738. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0026738
Editor: Mary O'Connor, University of British Columbia, Canada
Received: June 13, 2011; Accepted: October 2, 2011; Published: November 9, 2011
Copyright: © 2011 Williams et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: Funding was provided by the Canada-United States Fulbright program (RW) at University of Washington, The Russell Family Foundation, the British Columbia Marine Planning Fund and SeaWorld-Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, and a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Post Doctoral Fellowship (MK). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: Steve Clark is an independent contractor to SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment, Inc. (SWPE). He does not have and is not pursuing any patents or products, either in development or marketed, as part of his relationship with SWPE, Inc. Furthermore, there are no relevant competing interests that would affect the objective review of this paper. SWPE provided data, but played no role in reviewing the science. The terms of his contract with SWPE, Inc. do not alter in any way adherence to policies related to sharing of data and material as described in PLoS ONE policies. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
* E-mail:
rmcw@st-andrews.ac.uk
¤a Current address: Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St. Andrews, Scotland, United Kingdom
¤b Current address: Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St. Andrews, Scotland, United Kingdom
Now... Add all this to over 80% of WCVI and 90% of Victoria sport caught Chinook are already U.S. returning Chinook.
DFO's current actions and present position of denial of ISAv outbreaks?
DFO's present position of denial in support of saving the "fish farms" over wild salmon? DFO’s refusal to test "fish farms" for ISAv.
DFO "NOT" allowing "fish farms" to provide any third parties, INCLUDING THE U.S. GOVERNMENT samples to test for ISAv.!
It certainly does appear - DFO doesn’t need much more than this study to build their case (and justification) of shutting down any “sport fishery” in the name of “conservation” – at all! Now you not only have concerns with the BC Chinook populations, you also have a study tying in those concerns with an endangered species Orca diet! Gun is loaded and cocked! In just one word, you are... F*CKED . It is just a matter of time before DFO pulls that trigger! Of course, all of this is just - IMHO!
