3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2016
Tagging point of infection that contributed to orca’s death
Whale was
found dead
off Vancouver
Island in March
By PHUONG LE
Associated Press
SEATTLE — A satel-
lite-linked tag ired into an
endangered Puget Sound orca
by federal biologists led to a
fungal infection that contrib-
uted to the whale’s death, sci-
entists said Wednesday.
The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
Fisheries said a 20-year-old
whale found dead off Vancou-
ver Island in March was found
to have fragments of a dart
tag in its dorsal in. The death
prompted the agency in April
to temporarily halt its tagging
program.
Five weeks before it was
found dead, researchers ired
a small satellite-linked trans-
mitter into the orca to track
where the animals go in the
winter and how they ind food.
The transmitter is the size of a
9-volt battery and attaches with
two titanium darts just over
2 inches long. It’s designed
to detach over time and leave
nothing behind in the whale.
A fungal infection entered
the orca’s bloodstream at the
spot where it was shot, caus-
ing the animal’s death, the nec-
ropsy found. The fungus may
have been introduced by a con-
taminated tag, or was already
on whale’s skin and brought
deeper by fragments left
behind in the animal’s body,
the examination found.
The tag may have been con-
taminated when it fell into the
sea and wasn’t properly steril-
ized before it was used, possi-
bly contributing to introduc-
ing the fungi into the wound,
the report by a panel of scien-
tists said.
NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center
An orca whale known as L95, right, swims with other
whales from the L and K pods in the Pacific Ocean in Feb-
ruary near the mouth of the Columbia River near Ilwaco,
Wash., days after being fitted with a satellite tag. In April,
federal biologists temporarily halted tagging endangered
killer whales in Puget Sound after the orca was found
dead with fragments of a dart tag lodged in its dorsal fin.
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
A satellite-linked transmitter is visible on the dorsal fin of L87, an orca from the southern
resident group of killer whales, while swimming in Puget Sound west of Seattle in 2014.
ard Merrick told reporters in a
telephone call.
“There’s always a risk
involved when you’re con-
ducting research on wild ani-
mals. But it’s our job and our
obligation to reduce that risks
and that’s what we’ll continue
to do,” Merrick said.
Some advocates have crit-
icized the tagging, saying it
injures the orcas and there are
less invasive ways to mon-
itor the small population of
whales. There are currently 82
animals.
Ken Balcomb, a senior
scientist with the Center for
Whale Research in Friday
Harbor, said he has been rais-
‘Deeply dismayed’
The agency and its scien-
tists “are deeply dismayed
that one of their tags may have
had something to do with the
death of this whale,” NOAA
Fisheries’ chief scientist Rich-
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ing concerns for years about
the use of the tags, which he
called “barbaric and risky.”
Several factors may have
predisposed the whale to a
severe fungal infection, includ-
ing not completely sterilizing
the device, Merrick said. The
tag also hit the whale near sig-
niicant blood vessels, and the
whale’s health may have been
compromised at the time it was
tagged in February.
“It’s devastating to think
this could have happened,”
said Brad Hanson, the biolo-
gist who heads the orca tag-
ging program. He said he was
in charge and “completely
responsible” for failing to
ensure that the tag was prop-
erly sterilized.
“We’re trying to take stock
of the report and comments
and igure how best to move
forward,” he said. Hanson
noted the program has pro-
duced a tremendous amount of
data about the whales in a rel-
atively short amount of time.
Suspension will remain
But the satellite tagging
program will remain sus-
pended until the agency has
completed its own review.
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eries Science Center in Seattle
will also set up an independent
panel to review whether sat-
ellite tagging of Puget Sound
resident orcas should continue.
And NOAA’s Ofice of
Protected Resources will con-
sider additional conditions to
reduce injury or infection for
all future tagging efforts on
whales, dolphins and other
cetaceans.
The number of southern
resident killer whales has luc-
tuated in recent decades as
they have faced threats from
pollution, lack of prey and dis-
turbance from boats.
NOAA is considering
whether to expand habitat pro-
tections for the orcas to include
offshore areas from Washing-
ton state to Northern Califor-
nia, and Merrick said the tag-
ging program has been crucial
to understanding the animal’s
habitat.
The tag has been used
numerous times on whales and
other marine mammals, as well
as eight Puget Sound orcas.
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