Abstract
The San Juan Islands, located in the Salish Sea, are a hub for boating and ecotourism. A major economic outlet is the islands’ incomparable whale watching industry coupled with the strong maritime culture of the area. Because of these ocean-based practices, anthropogenic threats have been impacting the local whale populations for decades. This project explored the extent of these impacts by comparing incident rates of the two killer whale (Orcinus orca) ecotypes in the Salish Sea; Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) and Biggs Transient Killer Whale (transients). The killer whale populations were monitored between the months of May- September and occurrences that the Soundwatch program deemed as “incidents” were reported. These incidents include activities such vessels traveling too close or too fast to the whales, vessels following behind in or in the path of the whales, or aircrafts flying to low while traveling above a pod. Incident logs over the last decade were analyzed using Soundwatch Program’s data archives. The incident rates were calculated for each ecotype every year of the study scope.
Results indicated incident rate trends for both the ecotypes followed similar yearly trends; however, SRKWs experienced more incidents every year than the transients. This study also found that for each year, vessel interactions were the most common incident type. Further studies may include a more specific look on the whale watch industry impacts on the killer whale ecotypes, along with a more in-depth analysis on the effects of choosing to strengthen SRKW regulations, but not transients.