One way we think the warming of the oceans could effect the orcas is that the fish which the seals, and sea lions that the orcas eat would swim deeper to stay at the same water temperature. They account for more than 50-70% of the entire ground fish biomass. In recent years, their population has been growing, with more and more sightings within the Salish Sea year round. The trawlers season has been shortened from year round to only 55 days a year.

DDT’s and PCB’s mainly affect the males in the transient group, although they are transmitted through the females. His friend Steve wanted to share this: Our dear friend Pat Hutchins was diagnosed with anaplastic thyroid cancer, an... Karyn Lewandowski needs your support for Support Debbie Pierce and Pat Hutchins. The transient orcas are affected by pollutants such as DDT’s and PCB’s.

This is not only in sightseeing boats, there are numerous amounts of sport fishing vessels that will pursue whales while on there way out or back from the fishing grounds. Years can go by without seeing a particular orca. According to genetic studies, they have not breed for up to 100,000 years. There is no way to stop global warming, it is a natural process, all we can do it slow it down. For this reason, we feel that if this bill is passed, .05% of this tax be designated to the research and restoration of Alaskan killer whales. If they start to produce PCB’s and DDT’s again, their place in the WTO will become void, and we not be allowed back on until production has ceased. Alaska’s coastal waters used to hold about 90% of the world’s sea otters; however, in less than ten years sea otters have declined by 94% in the Aleutian Islands. If you went to WSHS in the late '70s, maybe you know Pat. They use enormous nets to catch their fish, some as long as four hundred yards. His friend Steve wanted to share this: www.gofundme.com/f/support-debbie-pierce-and-pat-hutchins ... See MoreSee Less, Support Debbie Pierce and Pat Hutchins, organized by Karyn Lewandowski, Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linked InShare by Email, Yum! Most of the PCB’s and the DDT’s stay on the sea floor where fish and plankton pick it up and it works up the food chain until the pollutants get into the orcas.2.

Steller sea lion populations have decline sharply, probably beginning in the 1960s. Over fishing has been a problem for the Steller sea lions. The whales are getting these concentrated amounts of pollutants through the food chain. Up for something new? Their range encompasses the same waters as those used by the Resident Communities of Washington State, British Columbia and Alaska. PCB’s stick in the whale’s blubber stores and keep accumulating until these whales get killed by these pollutants or die of old age. westseattleblog.com/2020/09/taste-of-west-seattle-heres-where-and-how-to-enjoy-5-days-of-good-foo... ... See MoreSee Less.

The diet of a transient killer whale mainly consists of marine mammals, whose population has been depressed since the Exxon Valdez oil spill and before.

Scientists didn’t know about it, at least not the magnitude of the drop in population. Bigg’s killer whales, also known as Transients, are famous around the world because of their fantastic and dramatic hunting soirees. Some seals and sea lions are killed by entanglement in fishing gear and other jetsam, but probably not enough to account for the declines.

They have a vast home range which extends from Alaska to Northern California, and with a tendency to be continuously on the move, it’s difficult to track every single whale in the population year-to-year. The most common kind of orca, the resident orca, lives in pods of around 40 animals and travel in about the same area all of their lives. However, those occasional glimpses of the beautiful killer whale are becoming rarer and the question is “Why?”, Orcas (Orcinus orca) are the largest members of the family Dolphinidae, with males growing up to 27 ft (8.2 m) and females growing up to 23 ft (7 m) in length.

Orcas are for a large part black, but have a white patch of above and behind the eyes, on the ventral side and a white or grey saddle behind the dorsal fin which is used to identify the individuals. These pollutants stay in the whale’s fat or blubber stores and take longer to break down. The social structure of Bigg’s killer whales differs from the tight-knit pod structure found in resident populations. Many are asking if fishing is causing the decline in the Steller sea lion population, should fishing be decreased. From that we learned that young sea lions do not dive as deeply as adult animals. Transient killer whales were listed as Threatened under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) in 2003. This fact allows us to treat the transient whale as a separate species from the resident whales.

To accommodate these needs and differences we suggest that transient orcas be listed and classified as a separate species.

When the Exxon Valdez hit ground in Prince William Sound some transient families lost up to half of their members. Transient killer whales have straighter dorsal fins and only two types of saddle markings.