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Killer whales dwindling since Exxon Valdez spill, scientists say
Kyle Hopkins, McClatchy Newspapers
Issue date: 2/12/09 Section: News
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- An already-fragile population of killer whales that hunts Prince William Sound never recovered from the Exxon Valdez oil spill and is doomed to die off, biologists said last week.
Marine mammal biologist Craig Matkin of Homer, Alaska, has tracked the animals since the mid-1980s and said he never thought he'd see an entire population of whales _ even a small one _ disappear.
"To blame it all on the spill would not be fair, but that's the final death blow," Matkin said.
The plight of this group of killer whales contrasts with the full or slow, partial recovery of many other animal populations, including another group of whales, since the 1989 oil disaster.
Twenty years after the massive spill, as much as 16,000 gallons of oil lingers in Prince William Sound. Arguments linger over whether Exxon should pay more for cleanup work. And federal scientists and other researchers at an environmental conference in Anchorage last week said they're still learning what the massive spill meant for local wildlife.
One of the most striking surprises to emerge from the annual Alaska Forum on the Environment was the tale of the so-called "AT1" population of killer whales.
Twenty years ago, the population numbered 22 whales. Today, only seven remain.
"These are the unexpected things. In killer whales, not recovering for this long length of time is something that we certainly didn't foresee or predict," said Jeep Rice, senior scientist with the National Marine Fisheries Service's Auke Bay Laboratory in Juneau, Alaska.
Even before the spill, the AT1 whales were in deep trouble.
They eat harbor seals, which had been in decline for decades by the time of the oil disaster. The whales were also assailed by pollutants and pesticides that might have arrived in Alaska on weather systems from Southeast Asia and might hamper reproduction _ toxins were found in the whales' blubber, Matkin said.
Then the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, and the estimated 11 million gallons it spilled killed thousands of birds and other wildlife.
Marine mammal biologist Craig Matkin of Homer, Alaska, has tracked the animals since the mid-1980s and said he never thought he'd see an entire population of whales _ even a small one _ disappear.
"To blame it all on the spill would not be fair, but that's the final death blow," Matkin said.
The plight of this group of killer whales contrasts with the full or slow, partial recovery of many other animal populations, including another group of whales, since the 1989 oil disaster.
Twenty years after the massive spill, as much as 16,000 gallons of oil lingers in Prince William Sound. Arguments linger over whether Exxon should pay more for cleanup work. And federal scientists and other researchers at an environmental conference in Anchorage last week said they're still learning what the massive spill meant for local wildlife.
One of the most striking surprises to emerge from the annual Alaska Forum on the Environment was the tale of the so-called "AT1" population of killer whales.
Twenty years ago, the population numbered 22 whales. Today, only seven remain.
"These are the unexpected things. In killer whales, not recovering for this long length of time is something that we certainly didn't foresee or predict," said Jeep Rice, senior scientist with the National Marine Fisheries Service's Auke Bay Laboratory in Juneau, Alaska.
Even before the spill, the AT1 whales were in deep trouble.
They eat harbor seals, which had been in decline for decades by the time of the oil disaster. The whales were also assailed by pollutants and pesticides that might have arrived in Alaska on weather systems from Southeast Asia and might hamper reproduction _ toxins were found in the whales' blubber, Matkin said.
Then the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, and the estimated 11 million gallons it spilled killed thousands of birds and other wildlife.
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