{"id":11505,"date":"2019-06-30T02:09:03","date_gmt":"2019-06-30T02:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/?p=11505"},"modified":"2019-12-05T23:44:26","modified_gmt":"2019-12-05T23:44:26","slug":"changes-in-ocean-climate-portend-a-dire-future-for-marine-mammals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/?p=11505","title":{"rendered":"Changes in Ocean, Climate Portend A Dire Future for Marine Mammals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
How does the middle of the Pacific\nOcean, an area that\u2019s practically a\ndesert when it comes to the nutrients that lie\nat the very heart of the marine food chain,\nmanage to support some of the largest life\nforms on Earth?\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an enigma,\u201d says Jeff Polovina,\nwho, though recently retired, was for years\nchief of the Ecosystem and Oceanography\nDivision at the Pacific Islands Fisheries\nScience Center in Honolulu, an agency\nof the National Oceanic and Atmospheric\nAdministration (NOAA).\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEven though there\u2019s little productivity, some foraging hotspots allow deep nutrients to come to the surface,\u201d supporting whales, sharks, dolphins, and large bony fish, including those species targeted by the Honolulu-based fleet of longline ves- sels, with revenues of around $100 million a year, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that critical link in the trophic\nchain is weakening. Modeling done by\nPolovina and his colleagues predicts dire\nchanges in ocean productivity by the end\nof the century, he said in a talk that opened\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the annual meeting of the federal Marine\nMammal Commission, held in May at the\nKeauhou Sheraton.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cZooplankton densities will decline by 20 to 40 percent. There will be fewer nutrients and lower productivity of zooplankton. The carrying capacities of many organisms will decline 40 to 50 percent around the subtropical gyre by the end of the century,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ten years ago, Polovina addressed the same body when it held its annual meeting in Honolulu. At the time, he warned that areas of extremely low productivity in the ocean \u2013 called oligotrophic zones \u2013 were expanding, with the zone in the North Pacific having expanded at an average annual rate of around 2.2 percent over the previous nine years. Should the trend continue, he said, it could significantly affect populations of important commercial fish, but also disrupt the oceanic food chain, affecting everything from seabirds to sea turtles to marine mammals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the decade since, the trend has neither slowed nor reversed. \n\u201cWhat is the biggest change since 2009?\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The question was the first one lobbed to\nPolovina after he had concluded his talk.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have another decade of data, of\ncontinuing trends \u2013 and we\u2019re more aware\nthat climate impacts are happening earlier\nthan we thought,\u201d he answered.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, he said, \u201cWe\u2019re more aware of the\nimpacts of the longline fishery,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe fishery started in the core area\u201d \u2013\naround the Main Hawaiian islands \u2013 \u201cin\nthe late 1980s,\u201d Polovina said. \u201cAround\n2005, its effort increased and expanded to\nthe north and the east,\u201d to the point where\nnow some 13 million square kilometers are\ncommercially fished around Hawai\u2018i.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With that increasing effort has come\ndeclining catch rates, between 2 and 7\npercent a year. The size of the fish caught\nis shrinking as well, while the proportion of\nsmaller fish in the catch shows substantial\nincreases, he told the commission members,\nits scientific advisors, staff, and the several\ndozen interested members of the public in\nattendance.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe catch rates of small fish\u201d \u2013 those with a mean weight of less than 15 kilograms \u2013 \u201chave increased 25 percent since 1996,\u201d\nPolovina said, while those for the larger\nfish have declined more than 50 percent.\nMore and more of the catch is made up of\nfish having no commercial value, such as\nlancetfish and snake mackerel.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall, \u201cthe fisheries yield is expected\nto decline by as much as 50 percent, and\nthe size structure of the catch will also\ndecline,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The change does seem to be a \u201ctop-down\nresponse: as you remove large animals, the\npopulation of smaller animals increases,\u201d\nhe said. While this may be bad news for\ncommercial fishers, he added, \u201cthere may\nbe some benefit for marine mammals.\nMaybe more mahi and ono for false killer\nwhales.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the benefit may be fleeting.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMarine mammals and fisheries will be\nimpacted,\u201d he said, with insular popula-\ntions, such as Hawai\u2018i\u2019s insular false killer\nwhale population, being hard hit, while\npelagic stocks may be able to find areas of\nhigher productivity.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The average rate of annual decline in fishery yields that he had observed in 2009 now is predicted to be as high as 5 percent. \u201cAs fishing and climate change impacts combine to shift the size and trophic\nstructure to smaller sizes and lower trophic\nlevels, the subtropics will lose resources that\nmigrate out,\u201d Polovina said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not\nclear anything will migrate in.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So while the rate of change in the central\nPacific Ocean north of the equator may\nnot be as fast as that predicted for northern\nlatitudes, \u201cthe impact to ecosystem services\nmay be much greater,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He cautioned, however, \u201cthere are\nso many caveats when we try to project\nclimate impacts. We\u2019re unsure how parts\nof the ecosystem will change as chemistry\nchanges. … We have more tools, and we\u2019re\nmaking more projections, but we\u2019re also\naware there\u2019s so much uncertainty. There\u2019ll\nbe surprises.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But probably not pleasant ones.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
Swim-With-Dolphin Rule Still a Work in Progress <\/h3>\n\n\n\nSpinner dolphins. Credit: U.S. FWS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Dolphin tours are big business \u2013 very big business in Hawaii. Along the Kona Coast of the Big Island and off Wai\u2018anae, on O\u2018ahu, dozens of companies hold out to their paying guests the prospect of swimming with pods of spinner dolphins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lars Bejder, director of marine mammal research at the University of Hawai\u2018i\u2019s Hawai\u2018i Institute of Marine Biology, told the commissioners that on O\u2018ahu alone, the annual revenue of dolphin tours amounted to $58 million, while the figure for Kona- based tours came to $44 million a year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But while snorkelers may pay a premium\nto enjoy getting up close and personal with\nthe animals, the price the dolphins pay is to\ntheir health. The animals feed in the open\nocean at night and come in to protected\nbays during the day to rest. When their\nrest is interrupted by human activity, their\nability to forage, to protect their young, and\nto successfully reproduce suffers.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nearly three years ago, in August 2016,\nNOAA proposed a rule intended to beef up\nprotections for the spinner dolphins. Under\nthe federal Marine Mammal Protection Act,\nit is already illegal to harass, injure, or kill\nall dolphins, seals, whales, and other marine\nmammals without specific authority to do\nso. But in the absence of rules, enforcement\nof the MMPA is difficult and uncertain.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rule would bar vessels or individuals approaching closer than 50 yards to spinner dolphins, would prohibit swimming with the dolphins, and would also ban the practice of \u201cleapfrogging,\u201d or placing a boat or person in the path of a dolphin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ann Garrett, supervisor for protected\nresources in the Pacific Islands Regional\nOffice of the National Marine Fisheries\nService, said that NMFS was \u201cstill in the\nprocess of finalizing the rule\u201d and had only\nrecently completed its review of all 2,294\nunique comments. A final rule was still\nmonths away at the earliest, she said.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But at the MMC meeting, several of\nthose present voiced their concerns that\nthe proposed rule did not do enough to\nprotect dolphins.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prominent among them was Bejder,\nwho cited research that emphasized the\nimportance of the sheltered bays where\nthe spinner dolphins rest. Sites along the\nKona Coast were studied by an Australian\nresearcher, Julian Tyne, who, Bejder said,\ndetermined that the spinner dolphins there\nhad \u201cthe highest human exposure rates of\nanywhere in the world.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEighty-three percent of the time the dolphins spent in resting bays had humans within 100 meters,\u201d Bejder said, referring to Tyne\u2019s work. \u201cThat\u2019s 25 percent higher than what has been reported for any other cetacean species. And the average time between exposure events was just 9.6 minutes.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Up until 2015, he said, NOAA\u2019s preferred\napproach to managing human-dolphin\ninteractions was through time-and-area\nclosures. But in 2016, that changed to the\n50-yard standoff. That, he said, \u201cis a good\nstart … but the resting bays need greater\nprotection.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAlso, the 50-yard rule doesn\u2019t consider\nvessel noise,\u201d he added, noting, \u201cAcoustic\nexposure propagates over hundreds to\nthousands of yards.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s clear that if you have a vessel just\noutside 50 yards, it will be audible,\u201d he said.\n\u201cA 50-yard approach limit is good outside\nbays, but in the bays, it\u2019s very inadequate.\nI\u2019m afraid that we\u2019ve spent 25 years to get\na rule in place, but if we put a rule in place\nnow that we already know is not protective,\nwe\u2019ll spend another 25 years to get another\nrule, while we know that the pressure on\ndolphins is increasing.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Addressing Bejder\u2019s concerns, Garrett\nsaid that NOAA had \u201cconsidered closed\nareas, but we got feedback from our partners\nthat that wasn\u2019t a preferred option.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In any case, she noted that her agency was\nalready working with operators and others\nin the affected communities: \u201cAs the rule\nhasn\u2019t been in place, we have been doing\nother things to help the spinner dolphins.\nWe\u2019ve engaged in outreach with commer-\ncial operators and the tourism industry to\nhelp them understand the issues. And as far\nas recreational viewing goes, we\u2019ve engaged\nin outreach on beaches and bays. And we\nhave a growing social media presence.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the public attending the meeting\nwas invited to comment, the testimony\nwas scathing.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rick Wilson of Kona, identifying himself\nas a \u201c50-year user of oceans,\u201d said, \u201cFirst, I\nsuggest each of you here go down to Kailua\nBay at 7:30, 8 in the morning. Watch what\nhappens. It\u2019s absurd. We will have between\n10 and 15 tour boats in the bay, following\nthe dolphins. They surround them. I live\nright above Lymans. I watch every day as\nthey\u2019re just harassing the hell out of the\ndolphins. … You need to get this under\ncontrol. It\u2019s a joke, and it\u2019s been going on\nfor 25 years.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tour operators themselves weighed\nin with complaints about their own indus-\ntry\u2019s behaviors. One captain said that for\nyears, the company he worked for resisted,\nbut, \u201cwe ended up swimming with dolphins\nfive years ago. You can\u2019t beat \u2018em, so join\n\u2018em.\u201d Another tour operator, whose boat\ncarries just six passengers, complained about\nthe other 56 operators who can drop \u201cup to\n60 people in the water at a time.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whatever the final rule is, it might not\nbe coming anytime soon. Timing, Garrett said, \u201cis difficult to predict, especially as we\nmove across administrations. Certain rules\nthat aren\u2019t administratively required have\nbeen slowed down.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
Monk Seal Recovery\nThreatened by Disease\n<\/h3>\n\n\n\nEndangered Hawaiian monk seals.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnder the Endangered Species Act, we have downlisting criteria,\u201d Jason Baker, a marine biologist with NOAA\u2019s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, reminded the MMC members. \u201cFor the Hawaiian monk seal to be listed as threatened instead of endangered, it will take 31 years at the current rate of growth for the population to meet downlisting criteria.\u201d That current growth rate is about 2 percent a year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd I can tell you, the population\nwon\u2019t grow at current rates for 31 years in\na row.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Baker did report that throughout\nthe range of the species, monk seal counts\nwere increasing. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of variation\nover time,\u201d he said, \u201cbut at most sites, we\u2019re\nseeing stable or rising populations.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Past threats \u2013 especially predation on\nseal pups from Galapagos sharks \u2013 remain.\nLast year, he said, at French Frigate Shoals,\ndeaths of pups due to shark predation was\nthe worst ever seen.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the population is still suffering from\nlow pup survival rates at French Frigate\nShoals. Overall, though, Baker said, \u201cwe\u2019re\nhappy to see the population is growing.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn 1998, I was pretty depressed,\u201d Baker said. \u201cFrom the time I took over\u201d as head of the monk seal research group, \u201cthe population kept going down and down.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut, despite the fact that we have a long\nway to go, we\u2019re seeing positive trends since\n2013, and myself and others in the program\nare pretty excited about it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Angela Amlin, the monk seal recovery team coordinator for NMFS\u2019 Pacific Islands Region Office (PIRO), had a more sobering assessment in her overview of threats to the species. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seals in the Northwestern Hawaiian\nIslands face multiple threats, including food\nlimitation, entanglement and entrapment\nin abandoned facilities, male aggression,\nand habitat loss \u2013 in addition to the shark\npredation mentioned by Baker.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Main Hawaiian Islands, there\u2019s the ever-present threat of interaction with fishing gear (and sometimes fishermen): \u201cAs of 2017,\u201d Amlin said, \u201cthere have been 18 seal mortalities from fishery interaction.\nSeven from hook ingestion, with the rest\nsuspected of dying in nets. All but one of\nthe confirmed cases involved laynet gear,\nwhich is illegal.\u201d One mortality, she noted,\nwas associated with an aquaculture pen.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There have been 14 intentional killings of\nmonk seals in the Main Hawaiian Islands,\nwith another four or five deaths from trauma\nwhere the intent could not be determined,\nshe said.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To mitigate the threats in the North-\nwestern Hawaiian Islands, juveniles that\nare malnourished \u2013 especially females \u2013 are\ntranslocated or transferred to the seal rehab\nhospital in Kona.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Entanglement with nets remains a seri-\nous threat, with the NWHI seeing one of\nthe highest entanglement rates for seals\nanywhere, Amlin reported, as a result of\nocean currents dumping debris on the\nbeaches of the archipelago. \u201cWe have dis-\nentangled 379 seals since 1982,\u201d she said. As\nfor entrapment: \u201cSince 2015, we\u2019ve released\n23 monk seals from behind the Tern Island\nsea wall.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Male aggression occurs when a male or group of males mobs female or juvenile monk seals, which can lead to death or serious injury and the skewing of the population\u2019s sex ratio. This, Amlin said, \u201cwas a significant cause of mortality in the 1980s and 1990s, but because of mitigation \u2013 hazing, wound treatment, translocation, or permanent captivity for males only \u2013 it has gone down.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
About one third of the monk seals today, Amlin said, \u201care alive because of direct interventions. Either they were saved directly, or they\u2019re descendants of seals that were saved in the past.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet even as past actions have helped the population recover, new threats have arisen. There\u2019s the loss of habitat due to a changing climate. Whale-Skate Island, in the French Frigate Shoals, sank out of sight in the 1990s. More recently, East Island, the second-largest land mass in the same atoll, disappeared after Hurricane Walaka tore through the area last fall, while Trig Island was overrun by wave action. French Frigate Shoals is one of the most important nesting areas for green sea turtles as well as a haul-out for the seals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfter Whale-Skate,\u201d Amlin said, \u201cthe seals relocated on their own. It remains to\nbe seen what happens when you lose one\nafter another island. It could be significantly\nmore damaging.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to losing land, the seals also\nface the threat of disease.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Starting last summer, hundreds of harbor seals and gray seals along the eastern seaboard of the United States began to die in what NOAA called an \u201cunusual mortality event.\u201d The cause of most deaths was eventually determined to be a morbillivirus \u2013 phocine distemper virus, much like canine distemper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To protect against this, NMFS has launched a vaccination program, now in its fourth year. Michelle Barbiere, a veterinarian with the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, said the seals are vaccinated with a syringe at the end of a hand-held pole. Two injections are needed, three to five weeks apart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So far, in the Main Hawaiian Islands, 63 seals have been vaccinated to date accounting for about a fifth of the population. In the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, the percentage is 57 percent, or 634 seals out of a total of roughly 1,100. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not aiming to vaccinate every\nseal,\u201d she said, \u201cbut enough to establish\nherd immunity.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The virus itself, she said, has never been detected in a Hawaiian monk seal, but to prepare for a day when an animal is suspected of having the disease, \u201cwe\u2019ve been identifying sites where quarantined seals could be held.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
No vaccine is available to prevent toxoplasmosis, however, which Barbiere described as the leading disease-related cause of mortality in Hawaiian monk seals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCats are the only definitive hosts,\u201d shedding the oocysts in their feces. Those oocysts can survive for months and do not die even when they are washed into the ocean. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Toxoplasmosis was first detected in\nmonk seals in 2011, and since then, a total\nof 11 seal deaths have been attributed to the\ndisease. \u201cIt mostly hits females, including\nmany of productive age,\u201d Barbiere said.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Further strengthening the linkage between the disease and cat populations is the fact that almost all the seal deaths from toxoplasmosis have occurred in the Main Hawaiian Islands. Just one seal outside the MHI is known to have died from toxoplas- mosis \u2013 a seal at Laysan Island. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no way to easily prevent expo-\nsure,\u201d Barbiere said. \u201cMost seals found with\nthis disease end up dead.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
Dramatic Fluctuations In Humpback Numbers <\/h3>\n\n\n\nOn the bow of the research vessel Oscar Elton Sette, Susan Yi prepares to take a tissue sample from a humpback during the spring 2019 whale survey of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Credit: Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
In 2012, Phil Fernandez was named volunteer of the year by the Hawai\u2018i Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. Less than a year later, he was one of the organizers of a group called Hawai\u2018i Fishermen\u2019s Alliance for Conservation and Tradition (HIFACT), many of whose directors are closely allied with the Western Pacific Fisheries Management Council. Within two weeks of HIFACT\u2019s official founding, it petitioned the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, asking that it define the North Pacific humpback whale population as a distinct population segment and then remove it from the list of federal endangered and threatened species. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That year, as it turned out, marked the\nhigh point for the humpbacks that winter\nin Hawai\u2018i and summer in Alaska. In 2016,\nbased on population growth estimates of 6\nto 7 percent a year, the humpback whales\nthat frequent Hawai\u2018i waters in winter were\nfound to be so abundant that they lost their\nstatus as endangered. The Hawai\u2018i distinct\npopulation segment of the Northern Pacific\npopulation was taken off the list of ani-\nmals protected by the Endangered Species\nAct \u2013 although it still enjoys more limited\nprotection under the Marine Mammal\nProtection Act.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Was it too soon?\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThree to four years ago,\u201d says Marc Lammers, researcher coordinator at the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, \u201csomething unusual began to happen here and in Alaska. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe 2015-2016 whale season started\nnormally enough, with the first sighting\noff Molokini in October. But in January,\npeople started to notice the whales were slow\nto arrive… People got worried. Headlines\nread: \u2018Whales have gone missing.\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The annual whale count conducted\nby the Pacific Whale Foundation in 2016\ncounted just 732 animals, less than half\nthe number seen the year before (1,488),\nLammers said.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, acoustic monitoring of whale\nactivity showed a decrease. \u201cIn December\n2015, the sounds were about the same as the\nprevious year. But then, for the rest of the\nyear, they never reached the level of the year\nbefore. Also, there was an earlier departure\u201d\nfrom the islands, Lammers noted.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA change of six decibels is equal to a\n50 percent drop in acoustic energy,\u201d he\nsaid, adding that there was a difference of\nbetween six and seven decibels over the three\nseasons from 2014-15 to 2017-18.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other evidence of change, Lammers said, came in from the sanctuary\u2019s ocean count, which takes place on Kaua\u2018i, Oahu, and the Big Island. \u201cIt\u2019s held three times in the whale season\u201d (January-March),\nand at all locations, we\u2019ve seen a steady\ndecrease in the number of whales people\nsee and count.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The alarming trends led Lammers and\nothers to hold a workshop last November\nthat brought together more than 30 experts\nand resource managers from 17 different\nagencies and institutions in both Hawai\u2018i\nand Alaska.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the end of the workshop, there was\ngeneral agreement that whale counts from\nSoutheast Alaska, Prince William Sound,\nHawai\u2018i island, and Maui \u201call show strong\ndecreases in sighting rates over the last\nfour-to-five years,\u201d Lammers said. And this\nincluded both adults and calves.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The consensus of those at the workshop\nwas that changes in prey abundance and\ndistribution played a role. But they also\nidentified \u201cunknowns:\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do the decreasing numbers reflect\nchanges in habitat use or an actual decline\nin the population?\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is this limited to the Hawai\u2018i population or does it reflect a broader trend across all Central North Pacific humpback populations? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And are these changes linked to declines\nin other species or changes in the ocean\nitself?\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As an outcome of the gathering, eight different working groups were formed to pursue a number of different research efforts. But in addition, Lammers said, \u201csome interesting information has come out\u201d since the workshop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn the time period beginning in 2013\nto 2016, some really major ecosystem-wide\nchanges took place in the North Pacific,\u201d\nhe said. This included \u201cocean heat waves\u201d\nthat led to the collapse of the cod fishery\nand seabird die-offs.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the 2018-19 whale season, Lammers\nsaid, whale numbers in Hawai\u2018i jumped up.\n\u201cThis season, actually, was a pretty good\nwhale season, by most accounts. Operators\nwere happy,\u201d he noted.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Acoustic data confirmed the increase,\nwith levels that were almost up to those\nof 2015 at one site, Lammers said, with a\n\u201cdefinite improvement\u201d at a second site.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the benefits of the government\nshutdown in January was that a NOAA\nresearch cruise was reprogrammed to look\nfor humpbacks in the Northwestern Hawai-\nian Islands.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe only had a week to spend in the [Papahanaumokuakea Marine National] monument,\u201d Lammers said. \u201cThe cruise hit a number of islands about halfway up the chain. We all were quite surprised that we found whales everywhere we\nlooked.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn total, we saw approximately 180 whales, including at least 13 calves. The area appears to be quite important for humpbacks. They\u2019re breeding there.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christine Gabriele, with Glacier Bay\nNational Park in Alaska, described the\ndecline of humpbacks in Glacier Bay, one\nof the areas where the Hawai\u2018i humpbacks\nspend summer months.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From 2014 through 2015, she said, \u201ca\nhuge patch of unusually warm water\u201d\nspread over the North Pacific. The \u201cblob,\u201d\nas it came to be called, was characterized by\nwater that was up to 2.5 degrees C higher\nthan average, resulting in \u201clots of ecological\nconsequences,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From 1985 to 2013, the humpback popu-\nlation in Southeast Alaska increased at a\nrate of 5 percent a year, with a peak in 2013\nof 239 whales.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThen the downhill slide began,\u201d she\nsaid. By 2017, the number of humpbacks\ndropped by more than 40 percent.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEleven whales were seen every year\nfor 30 years,\u201d she said. \u201cFrom 2013 on, all\nwere missing.\u201d In 2018, finally, three were\nresighted \u2013 though just one of them was\nseen in Glacier Bay.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The number of missing \u201cregulars\u201d has\nbeen increasing every year, with the fate of\nmost of these unknown, she added.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Calving success also declined dramatically. In 2013, the birth rate was 9.3 percent. \u201cAfter 2014, it was 2.8 percent. The first thing we knew was wrong was in 2014. Half of the calves were missing from their mothers after the end of summer in 2014. The calves were presumed dead, since they were not old enough to be weaned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn 2018, there was just one calf, which\ndied. It was total reproductive failure \u2013 the\nfirst time in the 34 years we\u2019ve been studying\nthe whales,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many of the whales that make it back to\nGlacier Bay are in poor shape. In 2016, 13\npercent were judged to be \u201cskinny,\u201d while\nin 2017, that had increased to 24 percent,\nshe reported.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gabriele noted that strandings had also\nincreased after 2014, with many of the\nstranded whales being emaciated. Also, she\nand her colleagues were noticing an increas-\ning prevalence of unusual skin conditions,\nincluding bleeding from flippers, patchy\ndermatitis, blotchy, rough skin, and bumps,\nor nodular dermatitis.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What had happened?\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe carrying capacity of the ocean\nhad changed in a heartbeat,\u201d she said. The\nherring fishery had collapsed, with none\nharvested at all in 2018 and no harvest in\n2019. \u201cThese fish are not of marketable size\n\u2013 and these are prey for the humpbacks,\u201d\nshe noted. The same held true for other\nfish species, including capelin, lampfish,\nand pollock. Not least, the zooplankton\nitself had become \u201cskinny,\u201d with a reduced\nlipid content.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As to whether the delisting decision\nwas premature, Angela Somma, chief of\nNMFS\u2019s Protected Resources Division at\nits headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland,\nsaid this:\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen NMFS makes a listing decision under the Endangered Species Act it makes that determination, as it did in 2016 with respect to the Hawai\u2018i DPS of humpback whales, based upon the best available scientific and commercial data available. We can\u2019t speculate, without conducting a full analysis of the data available and assessing all of the listing factors what the outcome of an ESA status review for this DPS would be today.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Spinner512x310JamesWatt.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/monk-seals-1024x627.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/NWHI-humpback-1024x772.jpg\")