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Related: About this forumThird young Killer Whale dies off BC of apparent malnutrition.
Another Baby Boom Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) Has Died - September 2017
<snip>
With the passing of J52, three of the six whales born in J pod during the so-called Baby Boom, which began in December 2014 with the birth of J50, have now died; and, two mothers (J14, J28) and a great-grandmother (J2) in the pod have also died. No southern resident killer whales from any of the pods have been born alive and survived thus far in 2017 the baby boom is over. This population cannot survive without food year-round - individuals metabolize their toxic blubber and body fats when they do not get enough to eat to sustain their bodies and their babies.
<snip>
All indications (population number, foraging spread, days of occurrence in the Salish Sea, body condition, and live birth rate/neonate survival) are pointing toward a predator population that is prey limited and non-viable. We know that the SRKW population-sustaining prey species is Chinook salmon, but resource managers hope that they find something else to eat for survival, at least beyond their bureaucratic tenure. Our government systems steeped in short-term competing financial motives are processing these whales and the salmon on which they depend to extinction. If something isnt done to enhance the SRKW prey availability almost immediately (it takes a few years for a Chinook salmon to mature and reproduce, and it takes about twelve years for a female SRKW to mature and reproduce), extinction of this charismatic resident population of killer whales is inevitable...WhaleResearch.com
<snip>
With the passing of J52, three of the six whales born in J pod during the so-called Baby Boom, which began in December 2014 with the birth of J50, have now died; and, two mothers (J14, J28) and a great-grandmother (J2) in the pod have also died. No southern resident killer whales from any of the pods have been born alive and survived thus far in 2017 the baby boom is over. This population cannot survive without food year-round - individuals metabolize their toxic blubber and body fats when they do not get enough to eat to sustain their bodies and their babies.
<snip>
All indications (population number, foraging spread, days of occurrence in the Salish Sea, body condition, and live birth rate/neonate survival) are pointing toward a predator population that is prey limited and non-viable. We know that the SRKW population-sustaining prey species is Chinook salmon, but resource managers hope that they find something else to eat for survival, at least beyond their bureaucratic tenure. Our government systems steeped in short-term competing financial motives are processing these whales and the salmon on which they depend to extinction. If something isnt done to enhance the SRKW prey availability almost immediately (it takes a few years for a Chinook salmon to mature and reproduce, and it takes about twelve years for a female SRKW to mature and reproduce), extinction of this charismatic resident population of killer whales is inevitable...WhaleResearch.com
Something to consider when patronizing your local Chinook salmon fish market. The fish we're taking from our oceans are literally causing predators up the food chain to starve to death.
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Third young Killer Whale dies off BC of apparent malnutrition. (Original Post)
ffr
Sep 2017
OP
CrispyQ
(36,527 posts)1. Very sad & inhumane how we treat the other species we share the planet with.
Those who will not share, will serve. That was a theme in a sci fi novel I read. Humanity had quite a debt to pay.
Kaleva
(36,354 posts)2. Some people here are very much against salmon farming....
and will only eat wild caught salmon.
hunter
(38,328 posts)3. Commercial ocean fishing needs to be banned just as commercial migratory bird hunting was banned.
Those fish are not ours.
We could pay commercial fisherman to do something else.
SCantiGOP
(13,874 posts)4. A hundred years ago
The idea that we could deplete the oceans bounty by overfishing was decried as a ridiculous notion. It was the commercial fishing industry and their patrons in government that were behind this misinformation campaign.
There is a strong analogy here to the climate change denial forces in our time.