Baby killer whale joins Puget Sound population

But orca has odds against it in first year

By LISA STIFFLER
P-I REPORTER

A baby orca has been spotted with the Puget Sound population of killer whales.

The new arrival -- scientists don't know yet if it's male or female -- brings the number of orcas up to 86. The population was declared endangered in 2005 by the federal government.

The baby was seen with other Puget Sound orcas over the weekend in Monterey Bay, Calif.



	A baby orca was spotted over the weekend in Monterey Bay, Calif., with Puget Sound's L-pod. The pod is expected to return by June. (NANCY BLACK/ MONTEREY BAY WHALE WATCH)

Scientists with San Juan Island's Center for Whale Research recognized the orcas as coming from local waters. Orcas have distinctly shaped dorsal fins and whitish-gray markings on their backs that help identify them.

During the winter and spring, it's common for the killer whales to venture down the coast in search of salmon.

"I'm delighted that they'll go where food is available," said Ken Balcomb, senior scientist with the Center for Whale Research. "They're not going to sit here and starve and wash up on our shores."

The orcas are expected to return in May or June. Then they spend about six months near the San Juan Islands and in the Sound.

The local population is composed of three family groups or pods. The new baby belongs to the L-pod. The K-pod is also in California now, while the J-pod recently was seen in Haro Strait between Vancouver, B.C., and the San Juan Islands.

Experts said the baby is the offspring of one of two orcas, which happen to be a mother and daughter. If it's the daughter's baby, it would be her first, giving it only a 50-50 chance of making it through its first year. If it's the mother's baby, it would be her third, which means its chances of survival are better.

That's because orcas are contaminated with industrial chemicals, particularly PCBs, which concentrate in fatty tissue and milk. The mothers pass most of those pollutants on to their first and second offspring.

"The mothers sort of clean themselves out," Balcomb said.

The new baby was born between late October and the early part of this year.

If it survives to return to the Northwest this summer, "that's a very good start," said Kelley Balcomb-Bartok, a research associate with the center and Ken's son. "Then it will have the summer to relax in the nice San Juan Islands and feed on fish."

Researchers won't know the gender of the orca until it rolls over and exposes its belly and genitals -- and it can be years before they get a glimpse. Even after they do, scientists have made wrong calls in the past.

"We had a male that gave birth," Balcomb-Bartok said. Their records subsequently were corrected.

The local orca population has ebbed and flowed recently.

This past fall, their numbers dropped to 85 after three adult whales and two calves born in 2006 died. Two of those were a mother and baby.

The National Marine Fisheries Service has set its goal for local orca recovery at a stable population of 120 animals.

The orcas face numerous threats, including diminished populations of chinook salmon, their favorite food; contamination of industrial chemicals such as PCBs, flame retardants and pesticides that can reduce their success in having babies and make them more vulnerable to disease; and disturbance by ships that can interrupt their communication and hunting.

Historically, killer whales were captured for aquarium display or hunted.

The fisheries service is accepting comments on a plan to regulate vessel traffic and whale-watching boats to better protect the orcas.