Animals
Western Grebe
(Aechmophorous occidentalis)
Western Grebes winter on the Pacific Coast. There's a good overview of the species at
http://depts.washington.edu/natmap/facts/western_grebe_712.html
Eulachon
The eulachon (Thaleichthys pacificus) is an important food source for many marine fish, birds and mammals throughout the Salish Sea. Historically it has been an important food source for many Native American tribes.
In March of 2010 the NOAA announced it will list the eulachon as Threatened under the US Endangered Species Act. This fish is also called the candlefish because it is packed with so many calories you can light a dried one like a candle.
For more information about the listing, download this pdf from NOAA, this question and answer pdf on the decision to list as Threatened, or visit the Eulachon page at the northwest office of NOAA Fisheries.
For another take, visit http://qmackie.wordpress.com/2010/03/31/vanishing-eulachon/.
Read about other species of concern in the Salish Sea.
We'd hoped to find a video of someone lighting a eulachon on fire, but couldn't...
(Photo shows an Alaskan eulachon. Photo by David Beatley, US Forest Service.)
Killer Whale (Orcinus orca)
Overview
Three distinct types of killer whales, often called orcas because of their Latin name, Orcinus orca, can be found in the Salish Sea.
Elephant Seals
Elephant seals are by far the largest of the different seals and sea lions found in Salish Sea. Adult males can be 15 feet long and weigh 5,000 pounds. These seals mate and give birth on beaches and islands off the coast of California and Mexico. Males make long distance migrations to southern Alaska and the Aleutian Islands and back twice a year while females tend to migrate west and have been sighted as far as Midway Atoll in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands. While they forage off the continental shelf where they make dives almost a mile deep, some elephant seals do come into the inland waters surrounding the San Juan Islands to haul out to rest. Elephant seals hold their breath for long periods of time even while resting on land. This regularly fools people into thinking they are dead. In the summer, large male elephant seals can be seen around the San Juan Islands, inspiring some and baffling others.
Tracking a Rehabilitated Weaned Yearling Harbor Seal
NOAA's Northwest Marine Mammal Stranding Network responds to stranded marine mammals in Washington and Oregon. Every year harbor seal pups that strand and are rehabilitated are released back into the wild. Last year 10 rehabilitated pups provided novel data on how these animals move post release as compared to wild seals. This year PAWS is releasing an older rehabilitated weaned pup, approximately 9 months old, which will be the first of this age class to be tracked by satellite in Washington state.
Click here to see the full-size tracking map.
Get email updates on Sandy's travels.
Sandy's History
On August 15, 2011 Seal Sitters responded to a pup in West Seattle that was just a few weeks old and named her Sandy. The pup was extremely weak and barely responsive, with numerous infected wounds. She was severely dehydrated and malnourished to the point of emaciation. The pup was transferred to PAWS Wildlife Rehabilitation Center for stabilization, treatment and care. After five months of rehabilitation she was released near a harbor seal haul out in South Puget Sound on January 27, 2012. This animal will provide invaluable data to the network.
Watch a video of Sandy's rehabilitation and release.
About the Northwest Marine Mammal Stranding Network
The network is composed of cooperating scientific investigators and institutions, volunteer networks and individuals. Other organizations also involved are wildlife and fisheries agencies and state and federal law enforcement.
Project Partners
Tracking this animal would not be possible without the collaboration of several network groups which include; Seal Sitters Marine Mammal Stranding Network, PAWS Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Marine Mammal Investigations, SeaDoc Society, and NOAA's Protected Resources Division.
Photos of Sandy are © by Robin Lindsey and are used by permission.
Fishes of the Salish Sea
How many fish species use the Salish Sea? In which habitat types can you find certain species?
Knowing the answers to questions as basic as this are fundamental to restoring an ecosystem. Yet currently we don’t have a scientific list of the fish species of the Salish Sea. This also was true for the birds and mammals of the Salish Sea until SeaDoc recently published that list. But stay tuned, we will soon also have a list of fishes thanks to a very generous private donation.
Why is this so important? With this list, scientists will be able to document the occurrence of new species and the disappearance of existing ones. The list will be a key baseline for Salish Sea recovery. At the same time it will help scientists select particular species as indicators of ecosystem health, and it will provide a basis for identifying the mechanisms responsible for marine fish declines.
Not too bad for a humble list. Thanks to our forward-thinking donor for understanding the importance of this effort and making it possible.
Photo: Grunt Sculpin by J. Nichols
Whale Tales: Cetacean Stranding Response and Medicine in the Pacific Northwest
In January 2012, Joe Gaydos gave a talk at the North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando, FL, entitled, "Whale Tales: Cetacean Stranding Response and Medicine in the Pacific Northwest."
The talk is fairly technical (after all, the audience was all veterinarians), but Joe livened it up with a few videos of exploding whales.
Seriously.
As the whales decompose, gasses build up inside the body cavity. If the pressure isn't released properly, the whale bursts. Sometimes this happens when someone cuts into the carcass (watch video). But it can also happen spontaneously, as with this whale being transported through a city in Taiwan (watch video).
See all the exploding whale videos we collected on our YouTube channel.
Here are a few highlights from the full talk:
"Stranded marine mammal carcasses once were used as food and some of the first laws enacted in New England Colonies were to establish the ownership of beached whale carcasses. Later stranded marine mammals provided animals for museums, live displays and scientific information about little-known species. Today they still provide us with important data on marine mammals and marine mammal populations. Strandings help us to document range expansions for marine mammal species and provide details on marine mammal growth rates, age at maturity, gestation, reproductive season and longevity. Stranded marine mammals also help expand our understanding of marine mammal mortality factors including infectious diseases, toxins and human-caused mortality."
"Strandings have increased from an annual stranding rate of approximately 1.5 cetaceans/year from the 1930’s through the 1970’s to nearly 36 per year from the 1980’s through the current decade. 2 This trend of increased reported strandings corresponds to the formation of a formal stranding network and a heightened interest and dedication by the public and government agencies in reporting and documenting strandings."
"Marine mammals are important sentinel species that tell us about potential negative impacts on animal and marine ecosystem health and ultimately allow us to better understand, manage or mitigate anthropogenic stressors.3 Cetaceans are charismatic species that stimulate great interest in people. They have long life spans, are long-term coastal residents, feed at a high trophic level, and have unique fat stores that can serve as depots for anthropogenic toxins. They also are exposed to environmental stressors such as chemical pollutants, harmful algal biotoxins, and emerging or resurging pathogens, most of which can impact people. Understanding the health of marine mammals ultimately allows us to better conserve their populations, design a healthy ocean and improve and protect human health. Over the past several decades, many important diseases and toxins have been diagnosed in marine mammals that are important to marine mammal conservation and human health or tell us something about the health of our marine ecosystem."
"Veterinarians often play an important role in responding to live and dead stranded cetaceans. For dead animals, they are able to conduct or lead necropsies. When live animals strand, veterinarians help to assess condition determine the level of interaction required and ultimately help treat animals taken into captivity. In 2009 the National Marine Fisheries Service developed a protocol for responding to live marine mammal strandings. These protocols balance the need for standardized procedures while allowing flexibility to address specific needs of different situations for diverse species and habitats, as well as unforeseen circumstances. Veterinarians work with the NMFS and stranding networks to help determine (1) What are the species and group composition involved in the event? (2) Is the situation caused by human activities or a natural event? And (3) Are resources available to ensure the safety and welfare of both the animals and the responders? Intervention can be dangerous for the animals and human responders and response operations are only approved if it will be safe for the animals, stranding responders and the public."
Photo Credit: ShaneAH via Flickr: Creative Commons license
River Otter Diet and Predation Project
In 2012, SeaDoc is funding a River Otter diet and predation study by Monique Lance of the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife.
The study aims to describe the diet of river otters and investigate the potential effect they have on rockfish and salmon populations in the San Juan Islands.
Rockfish and salmon are currently listed under the Federal Endangered Species Act. Because of the dramatic decline in these species over the past several decades, Marine Protected Areas have been created to assist in their recovery.
However, little attention has been paid to how predators respond to increased prey densities. Therefore it's important to investigate the diet of potential predators.
Otter scat samples were collected in the spring, summer and fall of 2008 on Fidalgo, San Juan and Orcas Islands. The scat samples have been cleaned and invertebrates in them have been identified. The project now allows for the analysis of fish remains in the scat, as well as examinations of spatial variation among the project sites and temporal variations through 2008. Data will also be compared to diet data from Alaska and British Columbia. The project will also compare diet among various predators, including harbor seals and Steller sea lions.
Photo by Michael Ransburg: Creative Commons license.
