Endangered orcas died of starvation - 'We're getting down to the last fish in the barrel'

[Barrett808]

'We're getting down to the last fish in the barrel'
By Robert Santos



SEATTLE -- It's been a rough summer for Orcas in Puget Sound. Seven killer whales have disappeared form their pods over the last few months and haven't been found. Biologists believe the whales died of starvation.

Telling one whale from another is almost impossible for the common man but for Ken Balcomb, it's second nature.
Orcas are like his children.

They feel like family, for sure," he said.

Balcomb even has an album - a family album - that identifies all three pods. Every single whale identified by pod and by special features down to the nicks on their fins.

For 32 years, from his boat and research center on San Juan Islands, Balcomb studied the same three pods - about 80 whales - return every summer to feed on Chinook salmon. This summer, seven orcas disappeared, including two newborns and two reproductive females.

Balcomb doesn't believe they strayed; he's sure they're dead.

"They're certainly in the prime of life. They haven't even reached the average life span. That means we're cutting this population short," he said.

Balcomb believes a lack of food is killing the orcas. He expects more deaths if Chinook salmon are not saved from overfishing, habitat loss and pollution.

"We're getting down to the last fish in the barrel," he said.

(more)

http://www.komonews.com/news/33560749.html

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. Sad, the orcas are beautiful animals

I hope they can be saved.

[Barrett808]

2. At this point, it's a matter of whether *the oceans* can be saved

To terrify yourself with the accelerating destruction of the oceans, watch this:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3569725&mesg_id=3569859

[GliderGuider]

3. Jeremy Jackson's talks are among the most frightening I've seen

To an ecologist, they pretty much say, "Game over."

[Barrett808]

4. "Writing the obituary for the natural world."

Dr. Jackson says that the best outcome in the next 30 years is extinction of most ocean megafauna, and that's only if we cap carbon emissions, eliminate pollution, and stop overfishing. The worst case is total stratification and anoxia, with anaerobic microbes and jellies dominating the water column.

I'm not looking forward to witnessing the last dolphins and whales washing up dead on toxic beaches, but that's where we're headed. Within our lifetimes.

[pscot]

5. Puget Sound is in trouble

Large stretches of Hood Canal are anaerobic because of fertilizer runoff and leaking septic sysems. Hake, pollock, true cod and rockfish, all of which used to be present in large numbers in th Sound, have been fished out or simply died off. Even dogfish are in decline. The salmon are a mere trickle compared to what they were as recently as 30 years ago. Fields and forests all around the Sound are yielding to pavement and tract homes, increasing toxic runoff. Red tides become larger and more numerous each summer. The governor has initiated a push to save the Sound, but the local population has doubled in the last 30 years, and continues to increase rapidly. Growth, like cancer, trumps all other considerations. Like the man said, "we're getting down to the last fish in the barrel", and it breaks my heart.

[kristopher]

6. I don't know...

I agree that the oceans are in/or approaching crisis, however, I strongly dislike this type of reporting; it is sensationalistic and entirely too speculative. The fact is, the orcas are missing, not definitively dead. Before reaching all the dire conclusions we see on this thread, it would first be prudent to explore the high probability that we don't know the adaptive behavior of these creatures under conditions where their home environment is stressed.

[bananas]

7. One-Third Of Planetary Fish Catch Is Ground Up For Animal Feed - Reuters

Related post which isn't on the greatest page yet:

"If you're creating protein for humans to consume, does it make sense to take three to five pounds of perfectly good food and convert it into only one pound of food?"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x174623

One-Third Of Planetary Fish Catch Is Ground Up For Animal Feed - Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One-third of the world's ocean fish catch is ground up for animal feed, a potential problem for marine ecosystems and a waste of a resource that could directly nourish humans, scientists said on Wednesday. The fish being used to feed pigs, chickens and farm-raised fish are often thought of as bait, including anchovies, sardines, menhaden and other small- to medium-sized species, researchers wrote in a study to be published in November in the Annual Review of Environment and Resources.

These so-called forage fish account for 37 percent, or 31.5 million tons, of all fish taken from the world's oceans each year, the study said. Ninety percent of that catch is turned into fish meal or fish oil, most of which is used as agricultural and aquacultural feed. Ellen Pikitch, executive director of the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science and a professor at Stony Brook University in New York, called these numbers "staggering." "The reason I find that so alarming is that it's an enormous percentage of the world fish catch," Pikitch said by telephone. "And fish are fundamentally important to the health of the ocean overall."

Forage fish are near the base of the marine food web, nourishing larger fish, ocean-dwelling marine mammals and sea birds, especially puffins and gulls, the study said. Unlike such dinner-plate fish as tuna, swordfish and cod, the extraction of forage fish is largely unregulated, Pikitch said. Excessive removal of these small fish from the ocean environment could hurt the species that feed on them. Aside from the potential ecological consequences, the taking of these large numbers of forage fish interferes with food security for humans, she said.

On average, it takes three to five pounds (1.36 to 2.27 kg) of fishmeal to produce one pound (0.45 kg) of farm-raised fish, Pikitch said. "If you're creating protein for humans to consume, does it make sense to take three to five pounds of perfectly good food and convert it into only one pound of food?" she said.

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[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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[Delphinus]

9. This just breaks my heart.

:cry: