The southern residents face several well-documented external threats. However, the population might also be subject to internal factors that limit population growth, including a reduction in fitness due to inbreeding. Understanding how inbreeding affects individual fitness and thus the health status of the population is critical for evaluating the relative influence of other factors on southern resident recovery. Assessing the risk of inbreeding depression – specifically called for in the NMFS recovery plan – is important for conducting accurate Population Viability Analyses and correctly understanding the urgency of recovery efforts. Here, we propose using genomic methods to evaluate inbreeding and inbreeding depression in the southern resident population and a comparable but healthier Alaskan resident population. Measures of inbreeding will serve as an important health marker, supporting the integration of individual metrics aimed at understanding population performance. Measures of inbreeding can be obtained directly by estimating variation at millions of DNA markers in an individual’s genome. Complete genomic sequences for 100 southern and 50 Alaska residents will be collected in collaboration with the genomics company BGI. Inbreeding values for each individual will be obtained using genome wide measures of homozygosity and relatedness. We will then combine measured of inbreeding with data on individual fitness, to evaluate whether inbreeding leads to inbreeding depression. Generalized additive models will be used to determine whether survivorship, fecundity and size-at-age is influenced by different levels of inbreeding. Using this data, we will measure the degree of current and predicted future of inbreeding in the southern residents and compare this risk with the Alaska residents that have experienced consistent population growth. We will then evaluate whether inbreeding depression explains individual variance in fitness, and estimate its influence on the status of southern residents, using Population Viability Analyses. Microsatellite, SNP, and mtDNA sequence data from southern resident killer whales.

The primary goal of the Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) Sightings Dashboard is to provide a resource for individuals and organizations to determine appropriate marine mammal protections for SRKWs when constructing projects throughout the Puget Sound. Specifically, in conjunction with the known action area of a project, it can help determine whether a marine mammal monitoring plan (MMMP) is needed that includes orcas. The National Marine Fisheries Service uses this tool to determine necessary MMMPs for Endangered Species Act consultations, including projects under the Salish Sea Nearshore Programmatic Biological Opinion.

Photo-identification data on killer whales occupying the northern Gulf of Mexico have been collected in association with large vessel surveys since 1991. Photographs of killer whales are taken during encounters and unique dorsal fin marking can be used to identify individual animals. These images have been reviewed and individuals cataloged to evaluate residency and demographic patterns in killer whales in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

Transient killers whales inhabit the West Coast of the United States. Their range and movement patterns are difficult to ascertain, but are vital to understanding killer whale population dynamics and abundance trends. Satellite tagging of West Coast transient killer whales to determine range and movement patterns will provide data to assist in understanding transient killer whale populations. Locational data.

This dataset is a compilation of line-transect data collected on surveys in the Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea, and western and central Gulf of Alaska, 2001 - 2010. All the surveys were conducted with similar methods using line-transect protocols, allowing effort to be quantified, but there were differences in transect design in some years (some surveys were systematic, some were not). Sighting information for all cetacean and at-sea pinniped species was collected. The database was compiled with the intent of including all surveys with sighting data on killer whales, in order to assess killer whale population biology in this region. Surveys included in this database are 2001 - 2007, 2009 and 2010 NMML killer whale surveys.

The Southern Resident killer whale (SRKW) population is threatened by a number of identified risk factors including prey availability, contaminants, vessel noise and disturbance, and small population size. In addition, there are several data gaps SRKW regarding their ecology. Although summer distribution is well documented, their winter distribution is not well known. Satellite tagging, acoustic recorders, and a compilation of public sightings has allowed for a much better assessment of this population’s winter distribution. Satellite tagging has been suspended in response to the mortality of a tagged SRKW, such that acoustic recorders and public sightings will be the primary approaches used to improve our understanding of the whale population’s occurrence and habitat use. Recent data has shown changes in the whales’ summer distribution patterns. Consequently, additional data on occurrence and movement patterns will be particularly important to document in the near term as the next couple of years to assess their potential response to the expected to have relatively lower abundance of returning Chinook, their primary prey. SRKW coastal sightings.

SRKW have several data gaps regarding their ecology. Diet of killer whales is being determined by analyses of predation events and feces and from stomach content of harbor porpoises. The potential impact of Chinook predators is being evaluated through models. Information on killer whale prey samples.

SRKW have several data gaps regarding their ecology. Diet of killer whales is being determined by analyses of predation events and feces and from stomach content of harbor porpoises. The potential impact of Chinook predators is being evaluated through models. Information on killer whale prey samples.

Comprises data from surveys focused on killer whales with opportunistic data from other cetacean species; includes data describing encounters for photo-identifications, biopsy, and acoustic sampling. Data includes surveys conducted by CAEP/NMML, and also contributed data from Alaska Ecosystem Program/NMML, Southwest Fisheries Science Center and other collaborators. Surveys were conducted in the Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea, and western Gulf of Alaska, 2000 to the present.

The difficulties associated with detecting population boundaries have long constrained the conservation and management of highly mobile marine species, especially for wide-ranging cetaceans such as killer whales (Orcinus orca). In this study, we use molecular genetic data to test a priori hypotheses about population subdivisions generated from a decade of killer whale surveys across the northern North Pacific. A total of 462 skin biopsies were collected from free-swimming killer whales from 1990 to 2010 between the northern Gulf of Alaska in the east and the Sea of Okhotsk in the west, representing both the piscivorous resident and the mammal-eating Biggs (or transient) killer whales. Geographic patterns of genetic differentiation were supported by significant regions of genetic discontinuity providing evidence of population structuring within both lineages, and corroborating direct observations of restricted movements of individual whales. In the Aleutian Islands (Alaska), population strata were largely delimited by major oceanographic boundaries for resident killer whales. In contrast, subdivisions among Biggs killer whales indicated multiple genetic clusters in the Eastern Aleutians and Bering Sea. The presence of sympatric genetic clusters within Biggs whales suggests the presence of isolating mechanisms other than geographic distance within this highly mobile top predator.