Oceans Initiative is delighted to share our 2022 Impact Report. We are so proud of what our team of scientists and biologists were able to accomplish last year, and grateful for our dedicated pod of friends and supporters who believe in our mission, who care deeply about the marine life we aim to protect, and who inspire us with their remarkable generosity.
With your support, Oceans Initiative continues to provide trustworthy science to guide real-world conservation decisions. Working with colleagues in all levels of government, corporate and nonprofit partners, and indigenous co-managers, we have made measurable progress toward preventing extinctions, safeguarding marine biodiversity, and protecting wild places—locally, regionally, and internationally. We are thrilled with the conservation successes you’ll read about in our Impact Report.
Whether we’re working to prevent the extinction of southern resident killer whales, reduce ship noise for a quieter ocean, decrease bycatch of dolphins in fishing gear, protect endangered salmon, or build resilience of wild species and habitats to buffer the looming effects of climate change, we’re more devoted than ever to preserve marine life and the ecosystems on which they depend.
Thank you for supporting our efforts to keep our oceans clean, quiet, and full of life. With your support, we are hopeful that we can celebrate even more conservation wins for the rest of 2023, into 2024, and beyond.
Last month, our co-founder and Chief Scientist, Dr. Rob Williams, presented preliminary findings to Washington state’s Puget Sound Partnership Science Panel on our efforts to update what we know about the threats (lack of salmon, ocean noise, and toxic pollution) to southern resident killer whale (SRKW) recovery, to put those threats in the same mathematical currency, and to run different scenarios to see what it would take to prevent the extinction of this iconic population. Sadly, the answer was disheartening and underscored the seriousness of this issue.
When we led a similar effort in 2017, we concluded we could save SRKWs from extinction if we could all work together to get the orcas 30% more salmon. Back then, that seemed unattainable, but our scientific models showed we could recover SRKWs if we increased the number of Chinook salmon in the sea by 15% while doubling the whales’ hunting success by reducing noise from boats and ships. We knew in 2017 that our model relied on science that was already a few years out of date. Since 2017, the whales have been declining faster than our models predicted. We set out to find out why and what we could do about it.
Forecasting what it will take to prevent extinction
In 2021, many of you gave generously to help us work with Drs Ben Nelson and Eric Ward to update the part of our model that tells us how SRKW birth and death rates change in good and bad salmon years. With support from Puget Sound Partnership (PSP), we integrated those relationships in a new cumulative effects model and ran management scenarios to see what it would take to reverse the decline. With PSP funding, we expanded our models to include more and better information on contaminants, disease, parasites, inbreeding, and the occasional case of direct, human-caused mortality from vessel strike, etc.
We also turned our direction from hindcasting what got the whales in this mess over the last 40 years, to forecasting what it will take to allow these whales to persist in a warming climate. We found that even our most optimistic salmon recovery targets from 2017 will not be enough to prevent the extinction of this iconic population. We need to slow the decline, buy some more time, and try to prevent sick whales from dying. And it looks as though we have one killer whale generation—28 years—to turn things around before the population tips over into an accelerating decline toward extinction. Inbreeding and climate change make this difficult task even more vexing.
Collectively, we’ve made progress on the noise front. Ship slow-downs by Ports of Vancouver, Seattle, and Tacoma are resulting in less ship noise, and our work is proving that the whales are feeding more when we make less noise in the Salish Sea. Keeping smaller boats farther from whales, and fully protecting foraging hotspots, is helping. In our own organization, we have scaled up the use of innovative, non-lethal deterrents to reduce seal predation on salmon at human-built bottlenecks, such as dams, fish ladders, and the Hood Canal Bridge. All of these efforts are helping but they are not enough to turn the population’s decline into recovery.
SRKW behavioral health metrics program
This year, inspired by our new understanding of the challenge we face saving SRKWs, we started a new SRKW behavioral health metrics program in partnership with Dr. Joe Gaydos, scientist director at the SeaDoc Society.
If you were short of breath, or feeling sluggish, you’d probably decide to go see a doctor. Your doctor would measure your breathing and heart rate and compare these to normal values. Similarly, in whales, abnormal behavior can be a powerful early warning that a whale is in trouble.
Fortunately, we have longitudinal data on breathing rates and swimming speeds of individual whales of known age and sex going back to 2003. We collect the data from land-based viewing sites using a surveyor’s theodolite as a completely noninvasive way to measure impacts of vessels on SRKW behavior, including foraging. We’ve reused the data to map foraging hotspots, and we are showing how the distribution of those foraging hotspots changes between good and bad salmon years. We’ve even used the data for noninvasive physiology studies that showed that a mother orca needs 42% more calories when she has a calf swimming beside her to keep up with the group.
Now, we are reexamining those meticulous data records and are finding hints that “whales of concern”, (meaning whales that have poor body condition and may not survive the season) tend to take shorter breaths and feed less often than healthy whales of the same age and sex. We believe the whales’ behavior can tell us when they are sick, long before they show up skinny or with that characteristic sign of fat loss behind the head (peanut-head) that indicates that a whale is near death. If we can detect warning signs sooner, then we can get wildlife veterinarians like Joe Gaydos out on the water to test whether an individual has a treatable infection, or would benefit from treatment for parasites.
Southern residents need our help now more than ever
There is a perception that the SRKW population has always been small, and it fluctuates between 70 and 100 individuals. What this last year of working with top experts in genetics, population dynamics, wildlife health, and ecotoxicology has taught us, is that the whales are telling us something. There is a pattern here. We are not seeing random fluctuations in a small population. We are seeing a population declining by 1% per year, on average. Due to lack of mature females and inbreeding, that decline will accelerate toward extinction if we don’t mitigate threats now. We need all hands on deck to keep whales from getting sick, and sick whales from dying. And we need your help.
Conservation is a crisis discipline. Agencies tend to react to crises after they’ve become too obvious to ignore. If we’re going to prevent the extinction of our beloved southern resident killer whales, we need to look forward, not back. Frankly, that innovation comes from the conservation science sector, not the management sector, and it is fueled by individual philanthropists like you, not government grants.
The southern residents need your help now. As Oceans Initiative urgently scales up our work on the relationships between killer whale behavior, health, and population growth, we hope our community will turn their dedication into action. Can we count on your support today to help fund our continued research and the development of our SRKW behavioral health metrics program?
Do you remember being a child and someone asking you, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ Some of us certainly answered, ‘a Marine Biologist!’ But how many of us followed that dream? What does it even look like to be a marine scientist? Each of the womxn on our team at Oceans Initiative has their own story for what led them to pursue a career in marine science. We’ve all faced unique challenges and discovered things about ourselves along the way. Science in general is a predominantly male field, but we’re changing that one woman scientist at a time. We’re just a few of the ever-growing faces of ‘Womxn in Marine Science.’ In honor of International Womxn’s Day, here we share our stories with you to invite all budding marine scientists, particularly the underrepresented, to get curious about what it means to pursue this dream. It looks different for everyone, and we hope you feel compelled to share your stories with us in the comments section, too!
Meet the Womxn:
My name is Kimberly Nielsen and I’m a Research Associate at Oceans Initiative. I started as a member of the 2020 Southern Resident killer whale field team, but my role has evolved to support a variety of projects. My day-to-day involves a little bit of everything: crunching numbers, building ecological models, mapping spatial data, writing papers and reports, and collecting data in the field. Outside of work and science I find joy in hiking, paddle boarding, traveling, and reading.
My name is Marena Salerno Collins, and I am a Research Associate with Oceans Initiative. I have been working for the organization for almost 4 years and have held various roles over that time. I am grateful for the organization and the inspiring womxn I get to work beside every day. Besides my work in marine science, I am a musician, artist, sailor, and avid outdoor enthusiast.
My name is Katie Wold and I am a Biological Research Technician for Oceans Initiative. I have worked primarily on the TAST (Targeted Acoustic Startle Technology) project, which involved counting seals and recording their distance from the device to evaluate the efficacy of our acoustic deterrent device. I’m also part of the team theodolite tracking Southern Resident killer whales around San Juan Island. I am so thankful to be part of team that works together on a variety of projects that make a difference to marine life locally and around the world.
My name is Stephanie Reiss and I am a marine biologist, field researcher, and natural world enthusiast. I am a Biological Research Assistant with Oceans Initiative. Under this role, I have participated in data collection in the field, post-processing, report writing, and more. I have gained a variety of skills during my time with Oceans Initiative including theodolite tracking of cetaceans, Targeted Acoustic Startle Technology (TAST), and hydrophone deployment. Outside of work, I enjoy writing, reading, cooking, and all kinds of outdoor activities.
My name is Andrea Mendez-Bye. I am a scientist, a friend, a daughter, and a woman. I am a highly passionate and driven person with a huge goal of saving as many animals as I possibly can. I get overly excited and feel so much joy from the work I do. My role with Oceans Initiative is currently working on analyses of data on Pacific white-sided dolphins as well as the Targeted Acoustic Startle Technology (TAST).
How and why did you get involved in Marine Science and Oceans Initiative?
Kimberly: I’ve always felt at home on or under the water. Growing up in southern California, I spent a lot of time at the beach tide pooling, body surfing, and freediving. That passion for the ocean naturally evolved into curiosity so I pursued a degree in Marine Science. After spending a few years doing remote fieldwork studying sea turtles and cetaceans, I recognized that I was lacking some quantitative skills and decided to complete a graduate degree focused on statistics and spatial ecology. This work fit perfectly with the mission of Oceans Initiative.
Katie:Growing up around the Puget Sound, I’ve always loved exploring and investigating the marine world. Some of my earliest memories are poking around in tide pools, trying (and failing) to catch small fishes, finding hermit crabs, and watching seals pop their heads out of the waves. As I grew older, my curiosity for marine life grew with me. In high school I began volunteering at the Seattle Aquarium, where I learned so much about the organisms I’d been seeing my whole life that I was inspired to further my knowledge by studying Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington. After gaining experience from a variety of field research projects, I began working for Oceans Initiative during the summer of 2021.
Katie Wold collecting data on harbor seal responses to Targeted Acoustic Startle Technology at Ballard Locks, Seattle.
When do you feel most empowered in your work and what is one project you are working on that inspires you? Why?
Marena: I feel most empowered and inspired when I see evidence of actual action towards conservation efforts because of the work we do. While working with Oceans Initiative, I have seen multiple projects go from conception to publication. To see how an idea can become a groundbreaking piece of science is astounding. I feel empowered in these moments because I feel and see our power as womxn in marine science and am briefly able to quantify our impact.
Stephanie: I feel most empowered in my work when I am working with others who inspire me or encourage me to be at my best. The Southern resident killer whale project inspires me because it is a project with a lot of weight behind it—working with an endangered population—and sometimes, it can feel pretty heavy. However, myself and the rest of the team share a passion and desire for helping and protecting them so much so that even when we have really long days or a challenge pops up, we all rise to the occasion.
Andrea: I feel most empowered in work when I see amazing things happen in front of me. Two major examples of this are in the field and in the office. When I am in the field and I see something incredible, such as a super pod of Southern resident killer whales in the sunset with a close knit team I feel unstoppable. Or when I am in the office working hard on an analysis and a significant trend appears, I get really excited and feel like I can do anything. A project that inspires me currently is the dolphin project, there are so many questions to be asked regarding Pacific white-sided dolphins currently. I feel fortunate to have an inquisitive brain, when I start to ask questions and figure out the answers piece by piece it is rewarding in a way that is hard to explain.
Members of the 2021 Southern resident killer whale field team theodolite-tracking from land on San Juan Island (including: Kimberly, Andrea, and Stephanie behind camera).
What are you looking forward to in your career (near or far in the future)?
Katie: I’m looking forward to continuing to study organisms and ecosystems that fascinate me. I hope to continue conducting field work and spending as much time outdoors and collecting data as I can. I’m also looking forward to furthering my education and becoming more comfortable with the statistical side of research.
Stephanie: I am looking forward to more learning opportunities in the field. I love the “learning-while-doing” approach of some fieldwork. One thing that is ever-present in fieldwork too is unpredictability. You can do your best to be prepared for any scenario but there will always be some moments that you simply could not have foreseen. I look forward to those moments too because it offers the unique opportunity to respond to challenges that you may or may not have encountered before.
Andrea and Stephanie doing fieldwork with Targeted Acoustic Startle Technology at Whatcom Creek in Bellingham.
Did you have a womxn role model that influenced your decision to pursue this career? If so, who?
Kimberly: I’ve been lucky to have so many strong, inspiring womxn in my life who taught me to believe in myself. When I started studying marine science and oceanography, however, I really struggled to find a mentor in a field dominated by men—many of whom didn’t take my research interests seriously (and voiced that to me multiple times). It took a little longer than planned, but I carved a nonlinear path into the career that I wanted. I am so grateful to all of the womxn I’ve had the opportunity to work with and learn from along the way, including the ladies at Oceans Initiative who continue to inspire me with their dedication and innovation.
Marena:Erin Ashe has been an incredible role model and inspiration for me. Because I started my marine science career with Oceans Initiative, I just thought it was normal to do everything she does, as she was the only example I had. However, I quickly realized, and continue to believe, that she is a marine science superhero. She has been illustrating for decades what is possible for womxn in this field while simultaneously empowering countless people along the way.
Dr. Erin Ashe and Katie deploying a hydrophone off the Oceans Initiative research boat ‘Wishart’ (featuring Molly Brown dog).
What challenges or differences do you believe still exist in the field of science, if any?
Andrea: The major challenges that still exist are the opportunities to find a good job. It takes many scientists, both womxn and men, a long time to enter this field because of the lack of resources. Additionally, a big hurdle to climb is the very competitive environment that can potentially stop people from joining or sharing science for the benefits of the animals.
Katie: There is still a huge reliance on unpaid internships and volunteering to gain experience that is necessary to secure future jobs or graduate positions. This is an obstacle for a lot of early career scientists, and often results in a lack of diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and points of view that I believe is a massive loss to our field.
Marena operating the theodolite at San Juan County Park.
What is some advice you would share with a womxn who is interested in going into marine science?
Andrea:Don’t give up! When things are hard and you feel like quitting, hold on to a special moment that can’t be replaced. That way you will always have motivation. I call them my National Geographic moments, the moments with wild individuals that will always glow in my mind like highlighting a favorite quote in a book.
Marena:The advice I would give a womxn who is interested in going into marine science would be: You can do anything you set your mind to. I know it sounds cheesy, but it is also some of the best advice I have ever gotten. Just take one step at a time, see where you want to be and work towards it, even if only in baby steps. Don’t get discouraged by not getting there immediately or taking steps that don’t have a positive linear trend. Additionally, don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself and know your worth both as an individual and a scientist. Not knowing something is not synonymous to failing, it just means there are still things to learn.
Kimberly: There are certain challenges to being a womxn in STEM, and unfortunately, on top of the imbalance created by a biased system, some of the barriers we run into are those we make for ourselves. To any womxn pursuing a career in STEM or marine science: remember that you are brilliant, you are an integral part of any team you’re on, and your perspective matters. Everyone’s path into this field looks different and our career timelines are often self-imposed. It is never too late to go after your goals.
Stephanie: Some advice that I would share with womxn interested in marine science is to broaden your perspective of what fits within the bounds of “marine science.” There are all kinds of opportunities that involve marine science that are not necessarily the status-quo. Pick up different kinds of skills and experience where you can (such as fieldwork, statistical analysis, scientific writing etc.) and don’t feel discouraged if you try something and discover that you simply don’t like it. You can pursue a career in marine science without being a field researcher, statistician, or grant writer. There are a multitude of possibilities but the more you introduce yourself to a variety of skills, the more prepared you will be to tackle any obstacles that come your way.
Katie: I would advise any womxn looking to get into marine science to get as much experience as you can while you’re an undergraduate student! Talk to your professors, see if they or any of their graduate students need help in the lab or with their field work. Even if your research is in a slightly different field, any experience you gain can be relevant for a future project in marine science, and building a good foundation of skills and working on a team is very helpful when pursuing marine science. Try not to let yourself be intimidated by the field of marine science—when I was younger I never thought I would pursue marine science because I didn’t think I fit the image in my head of a “scientist”. There are so many ways to be involved in marine science, from research to policy to scientific writing to outreach and education, so don’t stop yourself from trying before you even know what’s possible.
Kimberly and Stephanie after a successful hydrophone deployment off the westside of San Juan Island.
This year, we were reminded that the changing planet will affect us all. As flood waters threatened his new home in British Columbia just months after nearly losing his home to fire in California, writer Malcolm Johnson remarked, “It’s also hard to believe that when we moved back to BC from California, not long after almost losing our home to an out-of-season wildfire, we thought we were moving away from climate disasters. But the truth is that there’s no away.”
There is no away for wildlife that have evolved over millennia to occupy particular habitats and ecological niches. In fact, it is precisely this variety of unique ecological roles that captivates us as scientists, inspires awe, and drives us to learn more. The things that make animals special and bring us into their world can be the very things that make them vulnerable.
Among the extraordinary animals we at Oceans Initiative study in order to protect: walrus and belugas that rely on icy habitats; river dolphins, nearly blind, using sound to swim through submerged forests in the Amazon River; and of course, killer whales evolving particular ways to make a living in the sea, with populations specializing on prey ranging from herring to salmon to stingrays and sharks.
For these animals, there is no away. They cannot occupy new habitats if we degrade or destroy the critical habitats they have occupied for millennia. After evolving cultural traditions (and anatomical adaptations) to hunt specific prey items, orcas cannot switch from eating salmon to jellyfish, just because we’ve destroyed their prey base.
But what about us? Human evolution is taking place over millions of years, but humans are rare in that our cultural and technological evolution can also take place in the blink of an eye. We can change our behavior, so the onus is on us to fix the environmental problems we have caused, collectively.
How do we make real change? How is change born? After such a rough few years, do we still have the capacity to change? I hope so, because countless lives depend on our ability to change. Change can feel overwhelming, because it is. When faced with complex challenges, it can be alluring to just keep “admiring the problem” as former President Obama said, and do nothing. We find there is power and joy in creating change together.
Human ingenuity and creativity allow us to take large problems, and break them down into smaller solutions quickly. But sometimes the enormity of what has been lost, and the changes we will see in an ever-warming climate, can seem too much to bear. So we need to build resilience to stay on the path together.
One way we do this is to look for joy in our work. We find joy in the beautiful animals we study and the magic of this planet. We see joy in the teams and partnerships we build and the inspiring people we meet. And, when we reflect on our unique place in this world, and see that our strengths and gifts are needed, we can take a small step and then another on a joyful journey toward healing the world.
Oceans Initiative is committed to this joyful journey to build resilience and make change in the world. We hope you will join us.
Have you ever read the fine print on your retirement plan? There’s probably a footnote somewhere to warn you that past performance of mutual funds or stocks do not guarantee similar results in the future. Investing in biodiversity conservation needs a similar caveat.
Sometimes, protecting endangered species comes down to common sense. When we stopped killing whales—after the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling—many populations of large baleen whales recovered quickly. Many populations of humpback or grey whales, for example, have been growing at 5-10% each year for decades. Some have done so well that they have been taken off endangered species lists in countries around the world.
But, there are exceptions to the rule. Hundreds of thousands of dolphins were killed accidentally in seine nets in tuna fisheries in the eastern tropical Pacific until public pressure forced industry to adopt dolphin-safe fishing practices. After the initial problem was solved, spotted and spinner dolphin populations have barely recovered.
The southern resident killer whale population was depleted by about 30% during live-capture fisheries for display in aquaria. Even though the live-captures stopped in 1977, the population has not recovered to historic levels. On the contrary, the population has declined from 98 to 73 individuals over the last two decades.
Our newest research on beluga in the St Lawrence Estuary showed that, even though beluga hunting stopped in the 1970s, the population is unlikely to recover to pre-exploitation levels in our lifetime, because the threats of contaminants, inadequate prey, noise, and climate change work together to hinder recovery.
What do these populations teach us? Complacency leads to extinction. Decimating whale and dolphin populations is easier than recovering them. We see this in our own health. You can fall out of a tree and break your arm in an instant, but healing takes time. With whales, we cannot count on populations bouncing back from harm. Each population is unique. Some may need us to slow ships down to make less noise. Others may need us to reroute ships to avoid striking and killing coastal whales. Others may need us to invest in ropeless gear for lobster and crab traps. Each action, on its own, seems trivial. But collectively, we can build the natural resilience of the population to buffer the next threat—climate change.
In 2022, we need your help to build our organization’s resilience, as we build resilience of wildlife populations in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. As the effects of climate change become too obvious to ignore, there has never been a more urgent time to invest in our efforts to keep important ocean habitats clean, quiet, and full of life. Thank you for supporting our conservation mission.
