Domoic acid not involved in whale's death

ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Domoic acid poisoning did not play a role in the death of a blue whale hit and killed by a ship in the Santa Barbara Channel a week and a half ago, officials said.
"The blue whale necropsied at Pt. Mugu did not have any detectable levels of domoic acid in its system," Easter Moorman, marketing director for the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, said. "We are still awaiting results from several other analyses, however this may be a case of animals feeding in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Scientists initially suspected toxic algae might be causing the whales to become disoriented and unable to escape the large cargo ships that use the heavily trafficked shipping lanes in the channel. In addition to the dead whale that surfaced on September 21, two other blue whales have washed ashore in Southern California in recent weeks after being hit and killed by ships.
Large quantities of krill, the primary food source for blue whales, have been spotted close to the surface and in the channel's shipping lanes, Moorman said. John Calambokidis, a research biologist who has been tracking whale populations since 1986, said he noted unusually large numbers of blue whales feeding in shipping lanes during two research trips in the channel during the past few weeks.
"Even so, I would not have necessarily expected this level of mortality," Calambokidis said. "...I still find it kind of surprising, and that's why I certainly don't rule out something else that we might not be in tune with."
Following the third dead whale, the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the federal government to impose speed limits for ships in the channel until the blue whale feeding season ends.
"Whether the blue whales are being disoriented by military sonar, toxic algae or something else entirely, what is actually killing them is speeding ships," Brendan Cummings, oceans program director for the center, said in a statement. "The single most effective thing we can do to protect blue whales is to slow down large ships."
Officials from the center are proposing that the National Marine Fisheries Service impose a 10-knot speed limit for all vessels 65 feet or larger, relying on several scientific studies that show the probability of serious injury or death increases dramatically as speeds exceed 10 knots.
Several thousand container ships use the channel each year and ship strikes have been implicated in the deaths of at least four and possibly six blue whales between 1980 and 1993, according to the center. The minimum number of blue whale mortalities and serious injuries from 2000 to 2004 is 0.6 per year.
"We are incredibly lucky to have one of the most incredible animals that has ever existed right off our coast," Cummings said. "But we also have the responsibility to manage our oceans to ensure that our rich waters are not a death trap."
Jim Milbury, a spokesman for the National Marine Fisheries Service, said the petition is still being reviewed at the organization's headquarters. He said notices are being broadcast to ships by the Coast Guard, telling them to take all necessary precautions to avoid blue whales. Those notices are also being broadcast on weather radio channels, Milbury added.
"The National Marine Sanctuary is also doing fly-overs with the Coast Guard and the [Department of] Fish and Game," Milbury said. "They try to see where the blue whales are located and pass that information on to mariners."
Calambokidis said although there are several strategies to protecting the whale populations from ship strikes, imposing a speed limit appears to be the best solution.
"It could be done with the least impact on the shipping industry and the best benefit to the whales," Calambokidis said.
While there is a fair amount of variability as to where blue whales feed from year to year, and even during each feeding season, Calambokidis said whales distributions follow a general trend and long-term strategies such as relocating shipping lanes should also be considered.
During his expeditions in September, Calambokidis said he estimated a minimum of 100 whales in the channel, which he described as "one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world." Although there have been comparable numbers of blue whales feeding in the channel in the past, he said they haven't occurred in recent years. In fact, the whale distribution in the channel this year seems to go against the grain of what he described as a larger pattern emerging.
"We have noticed over the last four to five years there have been some more dramatic shifts in how blue whales are distributed," Calambokidis said, explaining that whales have been increasingly sighted off the coast of Baja California and British Columbia, and with less frequency in California waters.
"I can't really fit that larger pattern into what's happening in the Santa Barbara Channel," he said.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently issued a second Unusual Mortality Event (UME) in connection with the recent blue whale strandings. The first UME occurred in April, when NOAA officials announced an unusually high level of domoic acid-related incidents in Southern California waters, a large part of what led scientists to suspect domoic acid poisoning in the whale deaths.
Moorman said the UME will make it easier for a research team to respond and gather resources in the event of another blue whale stranding. NOAA officials are asking the public to notify the Marine Mammal Stranding Network of any floating whales on the coast of Southern California by calling the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History at 805-682-4711, extension 157.