In 1976, Ken Balcomb was contracted by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries
Service to photo identify and ascertain the population size of killer whales
off the Washington coast. This contract was the result of a decade of live
captures that had occurred in the Greater Puget Sound waters. The contracted
study formed the foundation of Orca Survey. Towards the end of 1976, Ken
Balcomb accomplished his contract goal and determined that the population
size remaining in the Greater Puget Sound area was 68-71 individuals, mostly
adults.
Orca Survey has continued independently since 1976 with funding from
various sources, including Earthwatch since 1987. The goal of Orca Survey
is still to annually photo-inventory the population for the purpose of determining
individual life histories and calculating vital parameters like birth rate,
death rate, etc, of the Southern Resident Community of orcas.
Recently, Orca Survey has been widely acclaimed as a model of success
for benign studies of free-ranging cetaceans. Photo-identification has yielded
detailed life history information about virtually every individual killer
whale in the population for over two decades. Other data collected provides
information on behavior, social structure, population dynamics, and interaction
with boaters.
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