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Fishery Bulletin 102(4) 



in Washington waters in the early 1900s when they 

 were the second most commonly killed species by Bay 

 City whalers (Scheffer and Slipp, 1948). Blue and sei 

 whales were less common, although they were present 

 historically (Scheffer and Slipp. 1948). Although Bay 

 City whaling stations (in Grays Harbor, Washington) 

 were closed after humpback whales were depleted, se- 

 rial depletion of whale populations continued off British 

 Columbia waters, beginning with humpback and blue 

 whales, then with fin and sperm whales, and finally 

 with sei whales (Gregr et al., 2000). 



No sperm whales or beaked whales were seen during 

 our surveys, although our study area did not include the 

 deeper waters where we would expect to find these spe- 

 cies. Most of the sperm whales (90%) seen by Green et 

 al. 5 off Washington and Oregon were present in deeper 

 offshore waters outside of our study area. 



The other cetacean species not seen in our surveys 

 that have been reported to occur off Washington his- 

 torically included northern right whale (Eubalaena 

 japonica), pygmy sperm whale iKogia breviceps), false 

 killer whale iPseudorea er-assidens), short-finned pilot 

 whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus), and striped dol- 

 phin (Stenella coeruleoalba) (Scheffer and Slipp, 1948). 

 Sightings of northern right whales throughout the east- 

 ern North Pacific are scarce; there have been only a 

 small number of sightings since the 1960s (Brownell 

 et al., 2001). Several of these sightings, however, have 

 been off the northern Washington coast (Fiscus and 

 Niggol, 1965; Osborne et al., 1988; Rowlett et al., 1994). 

 The primary reason for the paucity of sightings in the 

 eastern North Pacific in recent decades is due to the il- 

 legal take of 372 right whales in the early to mid-1960s 

 by the USSR (Brownell et al., 2001; Doroshenko 7 ). 



Although some small cetacean species such as Pacific 

 white-sided dolphins and Risso's dolphins were sighted 

 frequently on our surveys, they were not as common 

 as in some previous surveys (Green et al. 5 ), probably 

 because our coverage was concentrated in shallower 

 waters inside the shelf break. In contrast to our find- 

 ings of a number of species seen near the shelf edge. 

 Wahl (1977) reported that most marine mammal species 

 off central Washington tended to be in either inshore 

 or in deeper offshore waters and only killer whales and 

 Dall's porpoises regularly used the slope waters (13- 

 45 km offshore). 



It is difficult to make abundance estimates of Dall's 

 porpoise because of their proclivity to approach ships 

 (Buckland and Turnock, 1992). If they begin to ap- 

 proach the ship before the observer sights them, the es- 

 timate is biased upwards, which would be the case with 

 our estimate. Our estimate would also have a downward 

 bias because we did not attempt to adjust for animals 

 missed even if they were on the track line. 



Doroshenko, N. V. 2000. Soviet whaling for blue, gray, 

 bowhead and right whales in the North Pacific Ocean. 

 1961-1979. In Soviet whaling sata (1949-1979), p. 

 96-103. Center for Russian Environmental Policv. Vavilov 

 St. 26, Moscow 117071, Russia. 



All three types of killer whales (residents [both 

 northern and southern], transients, and offshore type) 

 were identified in the waters off northern Washington. 

 These sightings are interesting because of concerns 

 about killer whale populations, especially the southern 

 resident community that has declined in recent years. 

 Although killer whales have been intensely studied in 

 inside waters of the Pacific Northwest, little has been 

 known about their use of outside waters, where they 

 may spend large portions of their lives. Little is known 

 about the offshore type of killer whales, which is be- 

 lieved to be a distinct race of killer whale that has only 

 recently been described. These whales are believed to 

 be found usually in large groups along the continental 

 shelf but also have been seen in inland waters (Ford et 

 al., 1994; Dahlheim et al., 1997). All three sightings of 

 the offshore form were just west of the Juan de Fuca 

 canyon on the Prairie; the closest sighting to shore was 

 37 km (30 animals on 15 July 1997). 



Acknowledgments 



We are grateful to those who assisted with this study. 

 This work was supported by the Olympic Coast National 

 Marine Sanctuary and Southwest Fisheries Science 

 Center (Jay Barlow, COTR). Many people contributed 

 to this study. Jennifer Quan, Richard Rowlett, Anne 

 Nelson, and Annie Douglas worked on the ship surveys. 

 We thank the ship personnel on board the McArthur and 

 Agate Passage. Researchers who helped with small boat 

 work included Joe Evenson and Todd Chandler. Photo- 

 graphs of whales from this area were also contributed by 

 L. Baraff, R. Baird, P. Bloedel, V. Deeke. P. Ellifrit, G. 

 Ellis, J. Evenson, B. Gisborne. B. Halliday, H. Hunt, S. 

 Mizroch, K. Rasmussen, J. Wilson and SWFSC research- 

 ers. Permission to survey in Canadian waters was given 

 by the Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans. Lisa Schlender, 

 Kristin Rasmussen, and Annie Douglas organized and 

 conducted the photographic matching with the help of 

 many interns at Cascadia Research. DKE and Graeme 

 Ellis identified the killer whales; Oscar Torres assisted 

 with the photographic matching. Data analyses and 

 mapping were conducted with the help of Scot McQueen 

 at ESRI and Tom Williams. 



Literature cited 



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1988. Harbor porpoise. Phocoena phocoena, abundance 

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1987. Killer whales. A study of their identification, 

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