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 th

e 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).