The Ecosystem Approach: recovering rivers to help save the Southern Resident killer whales

The “ecosystem approach” to managing habitats is of growing interest in the world of conservation biology, with the realization that recovery of protected species ultimately relies on the health of their environment. In the case of the critically endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) population, prey depletion is a major threat to their survival. Research has shown that the SRKWs are highly dependent on Chinook salmon; thus the restoration of Chinook throughout the U.S. and Canada Pacific region is crucial for SRKW recovery. The significant decline of salmon abundance can be attributed to habitat loss and degradation throughout their range. Restoring Chinook requires recovery of their natal rivers and spawning grounds, which could include removing or breaching dams or other structures blocking access to historic habitat. For example, the Columbia/Snake River Basin historically supported average runs of 10 to 16 million salmon per year and has been reduced to only 2.5 million fish annually, much of which come from hatcheries. Restoration of this basin offers the best opportunity to increase wild salmon in the SRKWs’ coastal range; recovering salmon populations in multiple river systems could provide abundant and reliable prey for the SRKWs throughout their habitat. However, each river basin has unique challenges for salmon restoration, and dam breaching has been a controversial topic for decades. Here, we present a plan showing how an ecosystem focus highlighting the connection between orcas, salmon, and healthy rivers provides a fresh approach, while demonstrating the potential of ecosystem-based management for endangered species recovery. The prospective effect on the SRKWs is indicative of the far-reaching impacts of taking the “ecosystem approach.” While the long-term effects may take decades to realize, river restoration can have considerable short-term impacts for multiple species. Such knowledge is invaluable for restoration ecology and for the future of the SRKWs

Rebuttal to published article “A review of ghost gear entanglement amongst marine mammals, reptiles and elasmobranchs” by M. Stelfox, J. Hudgins, and M. Sweet

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2016. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here under a nonexclusive, irrevocable, paid-up, worldwide license granted to WHOI. It is made available for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Marine Pollution Bulletin 117 (2017): 554-555, doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.11.052.We reviewed the findings of the recently published article by Stelfox et al. (2016): “A review of ghost gear entanglement amongst marine mammals, reptiles and elasmobranchs” published in this journal (Volume 111, pp 6–17) and found that they are both flawed and misleading as they do not accurately reflect the prevalence of “ghost gear” cases reported in the literature. While we commend the authors for recognizing the importance of attempting to quantify the threat and for recommending more comprehensive databases, the methods, results and conclusions of this review have not advanced the understanding of the issue. As authors of the papers on whale entanglements in the North Atlantic that were reviewed by Stelfox et al. (2016) and others who are knowledgeable about the topic, we provide specific comments regarding misrepresentations of both the source of entanglement (e.g., actively fished gear versus “ghost gear”) and the number of reported entanglements for whale species included in the North Atlantic

Don’t assume it’s ghost gear : accurate gear characterization is critical for entanglement mitigation [poster]

Presented at the Society for Marine Mammology 22nd Biennial Marine Mammal Conference, Halifax, Nova Scotia, October 23-27, 2017Entanglement is a significant conservation and welfare issue which is limiting the recovery of a number of marine species, including marine mammals. It is therefore important to reliably identify the causes of these events, including the nature of the entangling gear in order to reduce or prevent them in the future. A recently published review of marine debris assessed 76 publications and attributed a total of 1805 cases of cetacean entanglements in “ghost gear”, of which 78% (n=1413) were extracted from 13 peer reviewed publications. We examined the 13 publications cited in the review and found that the specific gear type or status of gear involved in the reported events was rarely mentioned beyond the fact that it was fishing related. This is likely due to the fact that determinations of debris as the entangling material are very difficult. In fact, in reviewing 10 years of large whale entanglement records for the U.S., the authors of another study reported that Hawaii was the only region in which any entangling gear was positively identified as ghost gear. The assumption that entangling gear is marine debris unless otherwise stated is dangerous because it could impact efforts to modify or restrict risk-prone fishing in key marine mammal habitats. Entanglement in actively fished gear poses a very real threat, and claims that only lost or abandoned fishing gear is responsible for entanglements can undermine conservation efforts.2017-10-2

A Multi-Faceted Approach is Necessary to Protect Endangered Species: A Case Study of the Critically Imperiled North Atlantic Right Whale

While protection of endangered species in the United States is mandated for listed species under the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, both require ancillary efforts to ensure their intents are enforced. Science, negotiation, litigation, and lobbying for political solutions are all tools that can be brought to bear to ensure compliance with protective laws. However, there is a right and wrong time for the use of each of these tools. This paper provides a short discussion of the available tools, the likelihood of success or failure of each depending on when and how they are used, and it makes the case for a multi-faceted approach to protection of endangered species, using critically endangered right whales as a case study