The Center for Whale Research
In 1976, "Orca Survey" was launched as a census to determine the status of the Southern Resident Killer Whales. Orca Survey is a long-term photo-identification study of killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the San Juan Island area of the Pacific Northwest. It was initiated by Principal Investigator Ken Balcomb in 1976 (under contract to the National Marine Fisheries Service) to ascertain the size of the population of Killer whales in the Greater Puget Sound environs of Washington State.
For over three decades, the Center for Whale Research (CWR) has been conducting annual photo-identification studies of the Southern Resident Killer whale (SRKW) population that frequent the inland waters of Washington State and lower British Columbia (Balcomb and Goebel, 1976; Balcomb and Bigg, 1986; Bigg et al., 1987; Ford et al., 1994; Ford et al., 2000; CWR Annual Orca Survey ID Guides).
These studies have provided unprecedented baseline information on population dynamics and demography (Olesiuk et al., 1990; Brault and Caswell, 1993; Ford et al., 2005b; Wade et al., in prep; Ward et al., in prep), social structure (Heimlich-Boran, 1986; Bigg et al., 1990; Parsons et al., in press), and individual life histories (Olesiuk et al., 1990).
This detailed understanding of population status and trends has supported management decisions in both Canada and the United States. Most recently, data derived from CWR’s long-term studies have been used to support listing decisions in the U.S. under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act (Krahn et al., 2002), and in Canada under the Species At Risk Act, with SRKWs now listed as Endangered in both countries.
CWR researchers have pioneered the development of innovative research techniques for the study of free-ranging cetaceans. This includes the development of photo-identification studies for a range of species (Bigg et al., 1987; Claridge, 1994; Calambokidis et al., 1990; 1990b; 1996; 2000; 2001; Darling et al., 1996; Dahlheim et al., 1997; Durban et al., 2000; Ford et al., 1994; Ford et al., 2000; Parsons et al., 2006; Steiger et al., 1999; Urban et al., 1999); novel methods for genetic sampling (Parsons et al., 1999; Parsons, 2001; Parsons et al., 2003); techniques for prey sampling and predation observations (Ford et al., 1998; Ford et al., 2005a); novel statistical methods for making inference from photo-identification data (Durban et al., 2000; Durban et al., 2005a; Durban and Elston, 2005; Durban and Parsons, in press); non-invasive approaches for obtaining morphometric measurements from free-ranging cetaceans (Durban and Parsons, 2006); and recent advances in satellite telemetry for the remote study of individual movements (Johnson et al., in press).
Center for Whale Research publications: ( see reports and papers for abstracts )
• Balcomb, K.C. and Goebel, C.A. 1976. A killer whale study in Puget Sound. Final report, Contract No. NASO-6-35330. Marine Mammal Division, National Marine Fisheries Service, Seattle, WA, 11p.
• Balcomb, K.C. III and Bigg, M.A. 1986. Population biology of three resident killer whale pods in Puget Sound and off southern Vancouver Island. In B.C. Kerkevold and J.S. Lockard (eds.), Behavioural biology of killer whales, p. 85-95. Alan R. Liss, Inc., New York. • Bigg, M.A. et al. 1987. Killer Whales: A Study of Their Identification, Genealogy and Natural History in British Columbia and Washington State. Phantom Press, Nanaimo. 79p.
• Bigg, M.A. et al. 1990. Social organization and genealogy of resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the coastal waters of British Columbia and Washington State. Reports of the International Whaling Commission, Special Issue 12: 383-405.
• Brault, S. and Caswell, H. 1993. Pod-specific demography of killer whales (Orcinus orca). Ecology 74(5): 1444-1454.
• Calambokidis, J.; Cubbage, J.C.; Steiger, G.H.; Balcomb, K.C.; Bloedel, P. 1990a. Population estimates of humpback whalesin the Gulf of the Farralones, California. Report of the International Whaling Commission Special Issue 12.
• Calambokidis, J.; Steiger, G.H.; Cubbage, J.C.; Balcomb, K.C.; Ewald, C.; Kruse, S.; Wells, R.; Sears, R. 1990b. Sightings and movements of blue whales off central California 1986-1988 from photo-identification of individuals. Report of the International Whaling Commission, Special Issue 12.
• Calambokidis, J.; Steiger, G.H.; Evenson, J.R.; Flynn, K.R.; Balcomb, K.C.; Claridge, D.E.; Bloedel, P.; Straley, J.M.; Baker, C.S.; vonZiegesar, O; Dahlheim, M.E.; Waite, J.M.; Darling, J.D.; Ellis, G.; Green, G.A. 1996. Interchange and isolation of humpback whales off California and other North Pacific feeding grounds. Marine Mammal Science 2:215-226.
• Calambokidis, J.; Steiger, G.H.; Rasmussen, K.; Urban, J.; Balcomb, K.C.; de Guevara, P.L.; Salinas, M.; Jacobsen, J.K.; Baker, C.S.; Herman, L.M.; Cerchio, S.; Darling, J.D. 2000. Migratory destinations of humpback whales that feed off California, Oregon and Washington. Marine Ecology Progress Series 192: 295- 304.
• Calambokidis, J.; Steiger, G.H.; Straley, J.M.; Herman, L.M.; Cerchio, S.; Salden, D.R.; Urban, J.; Jacobsen, J.K.; von Ziegesar, O.; Balcomb, K.C.; Gabriele, C.M.; Dahlheim, M.E.; Uchida, S.; Ellis, G.; Miyamura, Y.; de Guevara, P.L.; Yamaguchi, M.; Sato, F.; Mizroch, S.A.; Schlender, L.; Rasmussen, K.; Barlow, J.; Quinn, T.J. 2001. Movements and population structure of humpback whales in the North Pacific. Marine Mammal Science 17: 769- 794.
• Claridge, D.E. 1994. Photo-identification study to assess the population size of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins in central Abaco. Bahamas Journal of Science 1: 12-16.
• Dahlheim, M. E., D. K. Ellifrit, and J. D. Swenson. 1997. Killer whales of southeast Alaska. A catalogue of photo-identified individuals. Day Moon, Seattle.
• Darling, J.D.; Calambokidis, J.; Balcomb, K.C.; Bloedel, P; Flynn, K; Mochizuki, A; Mori, K.; Sato, F.; Suganuma, H.; Yamaguchi, M. 1996. Movement of a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) from Japan to British Columbia and return. Marine Mammal Science 12: 281-287.
• Durban, J.W.; Parsons, K.M.; Claridge, D.E.; Balcomb, K.C. 2000. Quantifying dolphin occupancy patterns. Marine Mammal Science 16: 825-828.
• Durban, JW; Elston, D.A.; Ellifrit, D.K.; Dickson, E.; Hammond, P.S.; Thompson, P.M. 2005a. Multi-site mark-recapture for cetaceans: population estimates with Bayesian model averaging. Marine Mammal Science 21: 80-92.
• Durban, J.W. and Elston, D.A. 2005b. Mark-recapture with occasion and individual effects: abundance estimation through Bayesian model selection. Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statistics 10(3): 291-305.
• Durban, J.W. and Parsons, K.M. 2006. Laser-metrics of free-ranging killer whales. Marine Mammal Science 22, 735-743.
• Durban, J.W. and Parsons, K.M. Quantifying clusters in social populations. Behavioural Ecology, in press.
• Ford, J.K.B. et al. 1994. Killer Whales: The natural history and genealogy of Orcinus orca in British Columbia and Washington State. UBC Press, Vancouver.
• Ford, J.K.B. et al. 1998. Dietary specialization in two sympatric populations of killer whales (Orcinus orca) in coastal British Columbia and adjacent waters. Canadian Journal of Zoology 76(8): 1456-1471.
• Ford, J.K.B. et al.. 2000. Killer Whales: The natural history and genealogy of Orcinus orca in British Columbia and Washington State, Second Edition. UBC Press, Vancouver.
• Ford, JKB; Ellis, GM; Matkin, DR; Balcomb, K.C.; Briggs D; Morton, AB. 2005a. Killer whale attacks on minke whales: Prey capture and antipredator tactics. Marine Mammal Science 21: 603-618.
• Ford, J.K.B., Ellis, G.M. and Olesium, P.F. 2005b. Linking prey and population dynamics: did food limitation cause recent declines of ‘resident’ killer whales (Orcinus orca) in British Columbia? Research Document 2005/042. Canadian Science and Advisory Secretariat, Fisheries and Oceans Canada. http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas/.
• Ford, J.K.B., and G.M. Ellis. 2005. Prey selection and food sharing by fish-eating ‘resident’ killer whales (Orcinus orca) in British Columbia. Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat, Research Document 2005/041.
• Gaydos, JK; Balcomb, KC; Osborne, RW; Dierauf, L. 2004. Evaluating potential infectious disease threats for southern resident killer whales, Orcinus orca: a model for endangered species. Biological Conservation 117 (3) 253- 262.
• Heimlich-Boran, J.R. 1986. Behavioural ecology of killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the Pacific Northwest. Canadian Journal of Zoology 66: 565-578.
• Johnson, D.S., London, J.M, Lea, M.A., and Durban, J.W. Continuous-time correlated random walk models for animal movement data. In press Ecology.
• Krahn, M.M. et al. 2002. Status review of southern resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) under the Endangered Species Act. U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA Technical Memo. NMFS-NWFSC-54, 133p.
• Olesiuk, P.F. et al. 1990. Life history and population dynamics of resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the coastal waters of British Columbia and Washington State. Reports of the International Whaling Commission 12: 209-244.
• Parsons, K.M.; Dallas, JF; Claridge, D.E.; Durban, J.W.; Balcomb, K.C.; Thompson, P.M.; Noble, LR. 1999. Amplifying dolphin mitochondrial DNA from faecal plumes. Molecular Ecology 8: 1766- 1768.
• Parsons, KM. 2001. Reliable microsatellite genotyping of dolphin DNA from faeces. MolecularEcology Notes. 100:341-344.
• Parsons, K.M., Durban, J.W. and Claridge, D.E. 2003. Comparing two alternative methods for sampling small cetaceans for molecular analysis. Marine Mammal Science, 19(1):224-231.
• Parsons, K.M., Durban, J.W., Claridge, D.E. Herzing, D.L., Balcomb, K.C. and Noble, L.N. .2006. Population genetic structure of coastal bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the northern Bahamas. Marine Mammal Science 22(2): 276-298.
• Parsons, K.M., Balcomb, K.C., b Ford, J.K.B. and Durban, J.W. The social dynamics of the southern resident killer whales and implications for the conservation of this endangered population. In press, Animal Behaviour..
• Steiger, GH; Calambokidis, J; Sears, R; Balcomb, K.C.; Cubbage, JC. 1991. Movement of humpback whales between California and Costa Rica. Marine Mammal Science 7: 306-310.
• Urban, J; Alvarez, C; Salinas, M; Jacobsen, J; Balcomb, K.C.; Jaramillo, A; de Guevara, PL; Aguayo, A. 1999. Population size of humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, in waters off the Pacific coast of Mexico. Fishery Bulletin 97: 1017- 1024.
• Wade, P.R., Balcomb, K.C. and Parsons, K.M. Conservation of the southern resident killer whale population: a preliminary look at dynamic survival rates and environmental covariates. In prep.
• Ward, E.J,, Holmes, E.E. and Balcomb, K.C. Evidence of reproductive senescence and prey limitation in killer whales. In prep.Greater Puget Sound ecosystem as it is increasingly utilized, exploited, and affected by those activities.
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