Marine Mammals of the Pacific Waters

Many marine mammals have experienced substantial population declines and many are now considered endangered, threatened, or species of concern in the coastal waters of the Pacific Northwest. Eight of the whale species found in our coastal waters, as well as the sea otter and Stellar sea lion are now federally listed as threatened or endangered. These species are now protected and are the subject of significant conservation efforts and scientific studies.

The harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) is a small, shy creature that was once abundant in these waters and has not received the same level of conservation attention as the other marine mammals. (Read more about their biology here) More information is needed to determine its population status and other factors important to its long-term survival. While the harbor porpoise is not yet listed as threatened or endangered, it has suffered a significant population and range decline.

Latin American Conservation Learn more about citizen science volunteer work on this project.

Visit the volunteer resource page for the marine mammal project.

marine mammal internships Learn about a behavioral ecology internship position with this project.

One of PBI’s missions is to develop scientific information to aid in the protection of rare and imperiled species. A key to recovery of these species is the identification of threats and limiting factors while these factors still can be overcome. With the harbor porpoise, since the population has not declined to the point that it is listed as federally threatened, we have an excellent opportunity to recover the population. To do this, we must learn more about its habitat needs and other factors that limit the current population.

The reduction in range and population size of the harbor porpoise is thought to be due to pollution, gill netting, by-catch, noise, increased human presence and other factors (CMS 2009). Stock assessments, determination of the population size, are done by NOAA under mandate of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (NOAA 2003). At present, while there is no federal listing for the harbor porpoise, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has designated the harbor porpoise a species of concern in Washington (WDFW 2009). Canada has a population of harbor porpoises in the British Columbia coastal waters and has also designated harbor porpoise a species of concern (Baird 2003).

Aileen Jeffries, a Pacific Biodiversity Institute (PBI) board member, has initiated a project to monitor harbor porpoise populations and presence in the Puget Sound. The long-term goal of this project is to set a baseline for the population that can be used to realistically assess the stability of the species in the Puget Sound. Another goal of the project is to help determine the importance of various factors that are threatening the remaining harbor porpoise population.

Recently, the population has been assessed through aerial surveys conducted every several years. This provides a snapshot of what is visible from the air at infrequent intervals. In order to collect more detailed information, PBI’s project is designed to collect porpoise occurrence and distribution data with use of arrays of passive acoustic monitors (PAMs). The current PAM being tested is the C-Pod, which is deployed in several places in Western Europe and North America to monitor cetaceans. Our goal is to deploy arrays of C-Pods at selected locations to measure presence/absence continuously. In addition, data over successive years from the C-Pods may be used to determine the extent to which the harbor porpoise has been extirpated from the southern Puget Sound and to determine their current distribution in the northern Puget Sound. This will add to the scant body of knowledge of the harbor porpoise’s habitat use, its current range and how much historic habitat has been lost over the last century.

At present we have one C-Pod that is being deployed and tested. We are seeking funding for additional C-Pods. A complicating factor with acoustic monitoring of the harbor porpoise is the presence of two porpoise species in the Puget Sound and acoustic discrimination between species. The Dall's porpoise (Phocoenoides dalli) also is found in this area. The first step in our project will be to distinguish between the two using acoustic recordings and passive acoustic monitors. This is a significant challenge and could take a year to resolve. We are fortunate to have advice from NOAA and Cascadia Research Cooperative marine mammal biologists. And we want to thank the SW Region of National Marine Fisheries Service for providing us with recordings of Dall's porpoise clicks.

Our long-term goal for this initiative is to develop a geo-spatial model that can help predict the optimal habitat for the harbor porpoise based on biophysical data and knowledge of the behavioral ecology of the animal. An important factor that we will be exploring is the effect of anthropogenic noise on porpoise behavior and habitat use. Harbor porpoises are sensitive to anthropogenic noise. Consequently, shipping, marine exploration, construction, operation of noisy equipment and sonar are likely to affect the behavior and distribution of the species.

From 2009 - 2010, one of the PBI conservation science interns made visual observations and took photographs of harbor porpoises from land-based sites. Steven Gnam sighted the porpoise numerous times from the bluffs on Washington Park on Fidalgo Island. He took many photographs of the harbor porpoise, including some that illustrate social behavior between two or more animals. Read more about this in the related news item on our website.

In 2009, were were granted access to acoustically record an orphan harbor porpoise which was being cared for by the Marine Mammal Rescue Center, Vancouver, British Columbia. Aileen Jeffries recorded high-frequency acoustic signals (clicks) from the porpoise to test the use of passive acoustic monitors. Read about Aileen’s work with Daisy, the rescued harbor porpoise.

References
Baird, Robin. (2003) COSEWIC Assessment and Update Status Report on the Harbor Porpoise Phocoena phocoena Pacific Ocean Population in Canada. Cosewic: Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.

CMS – Convention on Migratory Species. (2009). http://www.cms.int/reports/small_cetaceans/data/P_phocoena/p_phocoena.htm

NOAA. (2003). http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/sars/

WDFW. (2009). http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/diversty/soc/soc.htm (Pacific harbor porpoise listing species of concern.)

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