MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1992 
were taken for this purpose from coastal waters of 
British Columbia and Puget Sound from 1962 to 
1976. Although a permit to take killer whales in 
Alaska waters for public display was issued by the 
National Marine Fisheries Service in 1983, in 1985 
the courts held the permit to be invalid because the 
Service had not met the requirements of the National 
Environmental Policy Act before issuing it. As a 
result, no animals were captured. Since the mid- 
1970s, most animals taken for public display have 
been from waters off Iceland. 
No population of killer whales is listed as either 
endangered or threatened. However, its occurrence in 
small, highly social groups and their relatively low 
density make local groups vulnerable to adverse im- 
pacts. As described below, there may be a need for 
additional protective measures to prevent deliberate 
and accidental killing of killer whales in parts of 
Alaska. 
Interaction with Fisheries 
Killer whales are top-level predators whose prey 
includes large whales, dolphins, seals, and commer- 
cially valuable fish species. In some areas, killer 
whales are attracted to commercial fishing operations 
where they take hooked fish from lines and damage 
fishing gear. As a result, some fishermen consider 
killer whales to be competitors and nuisance animals. 
Killer whales interact with commercial blackcod 
(sablefish) longline fisheries in the Bering Sea, Prince 
William Sound, and waters off southeast Alaska. In 
the 1960s Japanese longline fishermen fishing for 
blackcod off the Aleutian Islands reported killer 
whales removing or damaging hooked fish as lines 
were retrieved. Dockside interviews conducted in 
1988 with U.S. Bering Sea longline fishermen sug- 
gested that depredation by killer whales occurred in 
20 percent of the sets. Beginning in 1985 blackcod 
longline fishermen in Prince William Sound reported 
similar interactions. Field surveys in Prince William 
Sound in 1986 suggested that some fishermen lost 25 
percent of their catch to killer whales. 
A variety of techniques has been tried to reduce or 
eliminate such interactions. Without success, fisher- 
men have tried acoustic deterrents, such as “bang 
pipes” and seal bombs, and working their vessels in 
teams, alternately retrieving lines. Fishermen also 
have tried shooting whales and using large explosive 
charges to keep whales from removing hooked fish as 
longlines are retrieved. Until the mid-1980s, fisher- 
men could obtain incidental take permits from the 
National Marine Fisheries Service that allowed them 
to intentionally take marine mammals to protect their 
gear, their catch, or themselves. Studies of killer 
whale pods in Prince William Sound between 1985 
and 1986 documented gunshot wounds and a much 
higher than normal annual mortality rate in one pod 
known to interact with fishing operations. Recogniz- 
ing this as a problem, the National Marine Fisheries 
Service amended incidental take permits in July 1986 
to prohibit the use of explosives and shooting as a 
means of preventing killer whales and other cetaceans 
from affecting fishing gear or catch. 
As noted in Chapter IV, the incidental take permits 
were replaced by enactment of a five-year interim 
exemption for commercial fisheries in 1988. Under 
the interim exemption, the intentional lethal taking of 
any cetaceans, including killer whales, incidental to 
commercial fishing operations is prohibited. 
Interactions between killer whales and longline 
fisheries in Prince William Sound and throughout the 
Aleutian Islands have continued, and recent reports 
indicate that whales sometimes take halibut and Pacific ° 
cod as well as blackcod. No effective, non-harmful 
means has been found to prevent depredation of 
caught fish. Although it is illegal, fishermen report- 
edly continue to shoot whales and use explosives to 
try to stop whales from removing hooked fish. 
Effects of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill 
The 24 March 1989 grounding of the Exxon Valdez 
in Alaska’s Prince William Sound caused the largest 
oil spill in U.S. history (see the Commission’s previ- 
ous annual report for a detailed discussion). Killer 
whales and other marine mammals occur in the area 
and may have been affected both directly and indirect- 
ly. One killer whale pod known to inhabit Prince 
William Sound numbered 36 whales when last seen in 
September 1988 prior to the oil spill. When the pod 
was sighted on 31 March 1989, seven days after the 
spill, seven individuals were missing. Six additional 
