Southern Resident report for 2022: Orcas return to Salish Sea in summer, but worries remain

[Brexiter]

FRIDAY HARBOR, Washington—After five summers of mostly being absent, the maybe-now-inappropriately-named Southern Resident orcas returned to their traditional summer habitat in 2022: not entirely or even robustly, by any means, but much more frequently than in the preceding half-decade.

It was enough to raise hope that the Chinook salmon runs coming out of British Columbia’s Fraser River are finally starting to recover—after flatlining in 2016 and for the next four years—enough to bring the orcas who feed on them back to their traditional Salish Sea summer feeding grounds. And for the most part, signs are generally positive—though there are some distinct clouds in the picture.

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For much of the summer, whale watchers in the San Juan Islands were treated to several week-long visits by Southern Residents, particularly the J and L pod. July was an especially good month. There were new calves born to the pods, and all appeared to be healthy. And while drone-based research found some orcas in the population were underweight and not faring particularly well, the pods for the most part appeared to be foraging successfully and engaging in a lot of high-energy play behavior.

Nonetheless, by the end of the summer, the final census for the population was not encouraging: three deaths, two births, a final decline of one out of what is now a population of 73 orcas.

The visits to the Salish Sea seemed to end abruptly in August, coinciding with the sinking of a fishing vessel on the western side of San Juan Island. The J pod still showed up periodically in September and October in the area, but the visits were brief.

The Southern Residents, however, are also known to swim down into Central Puget Sound, past Seattle in the vicinity of Vashon Island, Tacoma, and Olympia, in the fall and winter months to feed on the chum salmon runs there. Puget Sound Institute’s Christopher Dunagan filed an interesting report on a rare “superpod”—when all 73 members of the population, from all three pods, merge together in what are always social/cultural events in which the orcas conduct what have been dubbed “greeting ceremonies.”

This one occurred in November, when, as Dunagan reports, the chum salmon “appeared to be on a stop-and-go migration schedule because of the unusual rainfall pattern”:

All of the Southern Resident orcas — more than 70 animals in J, K and L pods — spent four days feasting on salmon in Central Puget Sound, generally from South Whidbey Island south to Seattle-Bremerton and along Vashon Island, according to Alisa Lemire Brooks, whale sighting network coordinator for Orca Network, a nonprofit group that keeps track of whale movements in the Salish Sea.

This great gathering, known as a “superpod,” took place from Nov. 7 to 10. Superpods are fairly rare events anywhere in Puget Sound, and I don’t recall any time when the whales stayed together so long in this area.

“There was lots of foraging going on,” Alisa said. “It was pretty remarkable.”

“Hotspots,” where the whales seemed to be finding enough food to hang out for a period of time, include the area between Vashon Island and Des Moines and the “Possession Triangle” north of Kingston-Edmonds and south of Whidbey Island, she said.

…. “Lovely views from Edmonds Marina Beach with the naked eye …,” wrote one observer, as the orcas headed out the final day of the superpod. “There have been at least three waves of orcas and a fourth on the way. Some direction changes. Relaxed whales. One was literally suspended in the same spot for a few minutes with her dorsal fin above the surface.”

Historically, superpods are recognized as important social events among the three pods of Southern Residents. Experts say these gatherings have become less frequent, because dwindling populations of salmon cause the whales to move on for their next meal.

The delay of salmon moving into Puget Sound and ultimately to their spawning streams was likely the result of an unusual rainfall pattern. Who can forget the record-low rainfalls of summer and extremely dry conditions of September into the first half of October? In most areas, a moderate amount of rain fell during the last week of October and the first week of November — and then the rains practically stopped.

Because so many fish apparently remained in the saltwater waiting for more rain, salmon managers remained conservative about harvesting the chum. The larger-than-expected run along with limited harvest would presumably mean more chum salmon available to the killer whales.

Reports of chum trying to swim upstream where flows were extremely low raised concerns that many of the chum would die without spawning, or else they would spawn in the same areas that barely had enough water. Either way, the actual productivity from what had become an encouraging salmon run could end up much less than the run size would indicate.

“Our harvest this year was considerably better than recent years where we limited days on the water,” Mickey said. “We can attribute the higher harvest rate and quantity not only to more time on the water but relative to the strength of the run in comparison to the past few years.”

As Dunagan explains, the complicated situation with the chum runs this fall were a product of the unusually light amount of rain that fell. Northwest autumns are usually rainy affairs, but this year’s fall set a new record for dryness in the region. That means that salmon are unable to move upstream to spawning grounds because there’s nothing for them to swim in, or if there is, it’s too warm and oxygen-depleted:

The tragedy caused by a shortage of rain since Nov. 8 could be affecting chum and coho runs throughout Puget Sound, according to Jon Oleyar, a salmon biologist for the Suquamish Tribe. Many of these migratory fish simply are not making it into the upper tributaries for lack of streamflow.

Each year, Jon walks the streams of East Kitsap County, observing spawning activities while counting dead and live fish. His work contributes to an estimate of natural production each year.

Chico Creek, one of the most productive chum streams in Puget Sound, now contains fish in its lower section, he said. But its tributaries, including Dickerson, Lost and Wildcat creeks, are practically barren, except for their lowest sections. That means about two miles of prime spawning habitat on Wildcat Creek, about a mile and a half on Lost Creek, and another mile on Dickerson Creek are not being used for spawning so far this year.

The late October and early November rains caused some fish to enter at the mouth of Chico Creek, but the rains were not enough to boost streamflows adequately in the upper watershed.

“The fish wanted to get upstream, but it was just a trickle in both of those tributaries (Dickerson and Wildcat),” Jon said. “Some tried to spawn downstream,” he added, but those females were effectively digging up eggs laid earlier by other fish.

“I think we are going to end up with a concentrated spawn in the mainstem (of Chico Creek),” Jon predicted, noting that many of the salmon eggs are at risk of being washed out or buried if heavy rains come later.

Jon said he has heard reports of conditions as bad or worse in other streams of Central and South Puget Sound. Some have practically no water at all at this point.

The situation has improved in recent weeks: Since mid-November, normal amounts of rainfall (and even some snow) have been recorded. But the erratic weather is not helping stressed wildlife—from orcas to salmon and everything in between.