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THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2021
Study fi nds Chinook salmon key to orcas
‘IT WOULD CERTAINLY MAKE
OUR LIVES EASIER IF THEY WERE
EATING A LOT MORE OF THE OTHER
THINGS THAT ARE AVAILABLE.’
Hatchery stocks
are important
By GENE JOHNSON
Associated Press
SEATTLE — For more
than a decade, Brad Hanson
and other researchers have
tailed the Pacifi c Northwest’s
endangered killer whales in
a hard-sided infl atable boat,
leaning over the edge with
a standard pool skimmer to
collect clues to their diet: bits
of orca poop fl oating on the
water, or fi sh scales sparkling
just below the surface.
Their work established
years ago that the whales
depend heavily on depleted
runs of Chinook, the largest
and fattiest of Pacifi c salmon
species, when they forage
in the summer in the inland
waters between Washington
state and British Columbia.
But a new paper from
Hanson and others at the
NOAA Fisheries Northwest
Fisheries Science Center pro-
vides the fi rst real look at
what the whales eat the rest
of the year, when they cruise
the outer Pacifi c Coast —
data that reaffi rms the central
importance of Chinook to the
whales and the importance
of recovering Chinook pop-
ulations to save the beloved
mammals.
By analyzing the DNA of
orca feces as well as salmon
scales and other remains after
the whales have devoured the
fi sh, the researchers demon-
strated that while the whales
sometimes eat other species,
Lynne Barre of the National Marine Fisheries
Service’s Protected Resource Division
cials could use it in prioritiz-
ing certain habitat restoration
efforts or in timing hatch-
ery production of salmon to
best benefi t the whales, said
co-author Lynne Barre of the
National Marine Fisheries
Service’s Protected Resource
Division.
The information could
also be key in setting limits
for fi sheries; the Pacifi c Fish-
eries Management Coun-
cil has recommended that
NOAA curtail fi shing if Chi-
nook abundance is forecast to
drop below a certain level.
The researchers encoun-
tered the whales 156 times
from 2004 to 2017, with most
of the fecal and prey samples
from the outer coast being
collected in 2013 and 2015
— when the whales were eas-
ier to fi nd because they were
satellite tagged. There were
big runs of Chinook those
years, which might have been
refl ected in their fi ndings;
since then, Chinook numbers
have fallen up and down the
coast due to drought in Cal-
ifornia and warmer ocean
conditions.
In the summer, when the
Ken Balcomb/Center for Whale Research
A long-term study published this month reaffi rmed the importance of Chinook salmon to
whales even when they cruise the outer Pacifi c Coast, where the fi sh are harder to fi nd.
including halibut, lingcod and
steelhead, they depend most
on Chinook. And they con-
sumed the big salmon from
a wide range of sources —
from those that spawn in Cal-
ifornia’s Sacramento River
all the way to the Taku River
in northern British Columbia.
“Having the data in hand
that they’re taking fi sh from
this huge swath of watershed
across western North Amer-
ica was pretty amazing,”
Hanson, the study’s lead
researcher, said. “We have to
have hard data on what these
whales are actually doing.”
There are offi cially 74
whales in the three groups
of endangered orcas, known
as the J, K and L pods of
the southern resident killer
whales. Three calves have
been born since September,
but those are not yet refl ected
in the count because only
about half of the babies sur-
vive their fi rst year.
Facing a dearth of prey,
contaminants that accumu-
late in their blubber and ves-
sel noise that hinders their
hunting, the whales are at
their lowest numbers since
the 1970s, when hundreds
were captured — and more
than 50 were kept — for
aquarium display. Scientists
warn the population is on the
brink of extinction.
The paper, published
March 3 in the journal PLOS
One, suggests that efforts to
make Chinook more abun-
dant off the coast in the
nonsummer months could
especially pay off, and that
Columbia River Chinook
hatchery stocks are among
the most important for the
whales. It also suggests that
increasing the numbers of
nonsalmon species could
help fi ll the gaps for the
whales when Chinook aren’t
available in the open ocean.
The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric
Administra-
tion has already used some
of the data, which has been
available internally as scien-
tists awaited the study’s pub-
lication, in proposing what
areas to designate as critical
habitat for the whales. Offi -
whales forage in the inland
waters of the Salish Sea, their
diet is almost entirely Chi-
nook — mostly those that
return to spawn in Cana-
da’s Fraser River, the paper
said. By September, as coho
salmon return to spawn in the
region’s rivers, they make up
about half of the orcas’ diet,
with a mix of Chinook, chum
and coho providing suste-
nance through the fall.
In the winter, when the
whales spend more time on
the outer coast, they turn to
nonsalmon species, appar-
ently because Chinook are
more spread out and harder
to fi nd.
Barre said it may be sur-
prising that the orcas focus so
much on Chinook when there
are so many other fi sh in the
sea, but research has also
suggested that the whales
might target them because
the nutritional value of the
big, fatty fi sh is worth the cal-
ories burned catching them.
“It would certainly make
our lives easier if they were
eating a lot more of the other
things that are available,” she
said.
COMING IN MAY
Risk: 787 virus cases recorded in county
Continued from Page A1
return to a sense of normalcy.
I encourage all Oregonians
to keep it up and to get your
vaccine when it’s available to
you.”
Brown announced a new
two-week caution period to
help counties on the brink of
higher risk levels bring case
rates back down again.
“The caution period will
allow counties to re-focus
efforts to drive back down
creeping case numbers, and
give local businesses addi-
tional certainty on their plans
for operating,” the governor’s
offi ce said in a statement.
“If, at the end of the caution
period, case rate data still puts
the county at a higher risk
level, the county will move to
that level.”
Clatsop County is one of
13 counties that will be at
lower risk through March
25. Two counties will be at
extreme risk, nine will be at
high risk and 12 will be at
moderate risk.
Counties with a popula-
tion of 30,000 or more are
evaluated for risk based on
virus cases per 100,000 over
two weeks and the test posi-
tivity rate for the same period.
Counties at lower risk
have a case rate under 50
per 100,000 people, and may
have a test positivity of 5% or
less.
As of Saturday, Clat-
‘IT HAS BEEN A BLESSING FOR
SO MANY BUSINESSES TO HAVE
THIS ADDITIONAL CAPACITY AND
CHOICE AVAILABLE TO THEM
THESE PAST TWO WEEKS.’
David Reid | executive director of the
Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce
sop County had 36 cases per
100,000 over a two-week
period. Test positivity was
3.2%.
Capacity for indoor din-
ing at restaurants and bars in
counties at lower risk is 50%
with a midnight closing time.
Up to 300 people can dine
outdoors. Tables must be lim-
ited to eight people.
Gyms, indoor pools,
museums, theaters and other
entertainment venues can
operate at 50% of capacity.
Grocery stores, pharma-
cies, retail shops and shop-
ping malls can operate at
75% of capacity.
Churches can convene at
75% capacity indoors and
300 people outdoors.
Indoor social gatherings
must be limited to 10 peo-
ple from four households in
counties at lower risk. Out-
door gatherings can have 12
people.
Indoor and outdoor visits
are allowed at long-term care
facilities.
The county has recorded
787 virus cases since the
pandemic began . According
to the county, 18 were hos-
pitalized and six have died.
“It has been a blessing
for so many businesses to
have this additional capac-
ity and choice available to
them these past two weeks,”
David Reid, the executive
director of the Astoria-War-
renton Area Chamber of
Commerce, said in an email.
“The continued low case
counts bolster the evidence
that businesses, includ-
ing restaurants and indoor
entertainment, can operate
safely with the precautions
in place.
“We expect and hope to
see this trend continue, rein-
forced by increased vaccina-
tions and we urge custom-
ers and citizens to follow
the safety precautions busi-
nesses ask of them and to
remain vigilant in their own
lives so we can continue this
reopening safely.”
M
A
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A
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