Project Information

Title: Assessment of Injuries and Recovery Monitoring of PWS Killer Whales Using Photo-Identification Techniques 94092

Project Year and Number: 1994: 94092

Other Fiscal Years and Numbers for this Project: 1993: 93042

Principal Investigator (PI): Marilyn Dahlheim (DOI )

Managing Agency: NOAA

Assisting Personnel: None

Research Location: Prince William Sound

Restoration Category: Monitoring

Injured Resources Addressed: Killer Whales

Abstract: Current killer whale population estimates for Prince William Sound (PWS) are 11 resident pods, representing 245 whales, and eight transient pods, representing 52 whales. Of these pods, AB pod is the most often encountered pod in PWS. The AB pod had 36 whales when last sighted before the EVOS in September 1988. When sighted on March 31, 1989, seven days after the EVOS, seven whales were missing. In 1990, an additional six whales were missing. The 1993 killer whale monitoring project will determine recovery of AB pod through the summer of 1993. The 1994 proposed project will monitor the continued recovery of AB pod. The purpose of this study is to hire contract personnel to obtain photographs of individual killer whales in AB pod from July to September 1994 in study areas similar to those of previous PWS studies. The natural recovery of the whales following the EVOS and the association patterns of individual whales/maternal subgroups will be examined. To determine trends of abundance, mortality and natality will be calculated through photo-identification studies and compared to NOAA’s historical database on PWS killer whales.


Proposal: Not Available

Reports:
Final Report: See Project 93042

Publications from this Project: None Available