False Killer Whale Numbers In Freefall Off Hawaii - Scientists Saw None In 2000, 2003 Surveys

[hatrack]

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False killer whales can grow as long as 16 feet and weigh over one ton. They look like killer whales, but they're almost completely black instead of black and white. They're found in tropical and temperate waters worldwide, including Maryland, Japan, Australia and Scotland. Robin Baird, one of the study's co-authors, estimates about 120 false killer whales currently live in waters up to 60 miles off Hawaii's coasts.

Researchers who conducted an aerial survey of waters up to 34 miles offshore in 1989 counted 470 individuals in one group of false killer whales. They also found groups of 380 and 460 individuals. In contrast, researchers saw no false killer whales during aerial surveys of the same area in 2000 and 2003.

Baird, a marine biologist with Cascadia Research Collective in Olympia, Wash., said several surveys analyzed for the paper don't say much about the false killer whale population when viewed individually. But taken together the data make a convincing case, he said. The data "came together to present really a much more alarming picture," he said. Baird suspects a combination of longline fishing, declining prey, and environmental toxins are hurting the dolphins.

False killer whales tend to get caught by longline fishing because they eat the fish fishermen have snagged for human consumption: yellowfin tuna, mahimahi, and ono.

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http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1501ap_false_killer_whales.html

[FirstLight]

1. So many indications, such blindness from humanity...

The stories keep coming, the models being constantly recalibrated, and wether 'flukes' effect populations here & there...but it seems that we are only doing the 'disaster management" part...the clean up after the storms or floods or droughts...

sorry to think that so many things are going to get worse (for us) before getting better (for the planet)

Thanks for posting these stories, even if they don't get much play here. I think many folks are upset to see it happening, and may not even begin to comprehend the huge awfulness of the tipping point we have ALREADY passed-
AND many would prefer to think "someone else" will fix it...

yikes