King5 TV shows infrared video of orcas
Tonight reporter Gary Chitten and cameraman Pete Cassam from King 5 Television broadcast a nice story about the successful first test of a FLIR camera for detecting killer whales at night. The pilot study was designed by Jim Thomson of the UW Applied Physics Lab, his Master’s student Joe Graber, and his other staff. In collaboration with Jason Wood, Research Curator for The Whale Museum, and with the cooperation of Whale Watch State Park, the camera was deployed atop the Lime Kiln lighthouse where orcas commonly pass by close to shore during the summer months.
Two orcas surface in an infrared image
In just a week of effort, a suite of useful data were collected that are allowing Joe to assess to what extent automated signal processing algorithms can reliably detect orcas at night when they are up to 300 yards from the camera. Preliminary results suggest that a human can identify whales among the noise generated by waves at 300 yards, but the computer isn’t very reliable much further out than 100 yards. Perhaps a higher-resolution, top-of-the-line camera could improve the detection range?
The King 5 piece did an admirable job of conveying the importance of passive acoustic monitoring when attempting to detect approaching orcas. While infrared cameras may ultimately be able to detect killer whales up to a kilometer away, the loud calls and clicks made by the whales can be detected at 10 times that range when background noise levels are low. Together, infrared video cameras and real-time hydrophone networks constitute our best nighttime chance of knowing whether and when to shut down a turbine to mitigate it’s potential impacts on the fragile southern resident killer whale population. Sighting networks like Orca Network and human eyes at tidal turbine sites will be critical supplemental techniques for tracking whales during the day.
$1-10k fines for proximity to orcas
It’s nice to see WDFW making public (see below) the consequences of violating the State and Federal laws governing how vessels may interact with killer whales. I’ve added these details to the Beam Reach wiki page regarding orca-boat rules.
WDFW NEWS RELEASE
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091
http://wdfw.wa.gov/
June 1, 2010
Rocky Beach, (360) 902-2510
WDFW cautions boat owners
to steer clear of orca whales
OLYMPIA – With summer approaching, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is reminding recreational boaters to give orca whales and other marine mammals a wide berth.
State law requires boaters to stay at least 100 yards away from southern resident orca whales. Boaters who unexpectedly come into closer proximity to an orca are required to stop immediately and allow the whales to pass.
These and other state regulations apply to a variety of small watercraft, including tour boats, private powerboats, sailboats, kayaks, canoes and personal floatation devices.
Federal law also includes broad restrictions against disturbing or harassing any marine mammal, said Mike Cenci, WDFW’s deputy chief of enforcement.
“Boaters have a responsibility to keep their distance from these amazing animals,” Cenci said. “Human disturbances, including boat traffic, can interfere with their ability to feed, communicate with one another and care for their young.”
Cenci noted that WDFW has issued 10 citations and dozens of warnings to recreational boaters since 2008, when the Legislature approved the state law regulating boating activity around orca whales.
Violating the state law can result in a fine of up to $1,025. The maximum fine under federal law is $10,000.
The southern resident orca population, which currently includes about 90 whales, is classified as “endangered” by both the State of Washington and the federal government.
Those animals, which mostly travel the waters of northern Puget Sound, account for the majority of orca whales found in Washington from early spring to late fall, said Rocky Beach, WDFW wildlife diversity division manager. Major threats to their survival include the declining abundance of salmon, exposure to pollutants and disruptions from passing vessels.
Under state law, it is unlawful to:
- Approach within 100 yards of a southern resident whale.
- Cause a vessel or other object to approach within 100 yards of a southern resident whale.
- Intercept a southern resident whale by remaining in its path until it comes within 100 yards of a vessel.
- Fail to disengage the transmission of a vessel that is within 100 yards of a southern resident whale.
- Feed a southern resident whale.
Additional information about the state law is available on the WDFW website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/diversty/soc/orca/ . Whale-watching guidelines are available at http://www.bewhalewise.org .
This message has been sent to the WDFW News Releases & Weekender mailing list.
Visit the WDFW News Release Archive at: http://wdfw.wa.gov/do/newreal/
Shall orca fans boycott CA tomatoes?
This well-written story about the CA salmon fishery in the High Country News connects the fate of southern residents with the agricultural industry of the Central Valley.
The past five years have already been harrowing, with a round of fishing bans to protect declining salmon runs in the Klamath River near the California-Oregon border. While those stocks are now in better shape, the main population of local salmon — the celebrated Sacramento River fall run of chinooks — is in steep decline. For the past two years, the federal government has banned commercial salmon fishing in California and most of Oregon.
Then, in April, Collins and other fishermen received what seemed like good news. The Pacific Fishery Management Council, a 14-member assembly that makes fishing recommendations to the federal government, voted to open salmon season in California and Oregon. But, particularly in California, the season will be just a fraction of what it once was: Beginning July 1, some 400 commercial fishing boats could be chasing roughly 33,500 salmon.
“It works out to about 90 fish a boat. Eight years ago, you’d catch that in a morning,” Collins says, and then pauses. “I’m hoping a lot of guys aren’t going to bother.”
In comparison, the southern resident orca population needs about 1000 good-sized chinook per day. So, the limited opening that the Pacific Fishery Management Council has allowed could potentially reduce Southern Resident food supply by about one month. We’ll have to delve into the PFMC analysis to understand what led them to decide that allowing OR and CA fishers to harvest 93,000 salmon from all runs would be “safe.” Is that “safe” for the salmon populations, the orca populations, the human fishers’ livelihood, or some subset of influential politicians?
This spring, Democratic Congressmen Jim Costa and Dennis Cardoza and Republican George Radanovich, who represent the valley, wrote to Gary Locke, the Cabinet secretary who oversees the federal salmon-protection program, to decry a “double standard” of allowing salmon fishing while farmers still face water cutbacks. Then in April, Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic senator and former mayor of San Francisco, joined Costa and Cardoza in again complaining that “tens of thousands of acre-feet (of water) are now flowing unchecked past the pumps and into the ocean.”Despite those water cutbacks, California still managed to grow its largest tomato crop in history last year. The 13.3-million-ton harvest was so big, in fact, that some farmers tilled a portion of their crop back into the ground. “It’s the greediest bunch of creeps I’ve ever seen in my life,” says fisherman Collins. “We haven’t worked in two years, and they’re crying like little girls.”
Perhaps it’s time to ascertain which crops are most water-intensive and to a coast-wide or even Inter/national boycott of them. The article suggests cotton and tomatoes. What other crops would be a worthy target? Would progressive stores like Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods participate? Or would this need to be a grassroots effort activated by orca enthusiasts around the country and globe?
