Orca Calf Offers Hope for a Fading Group in the Pacific Northwest

Clara DeMagalhaes Current Event #14

Fortin, Jacey. “Orca Calf Offers Hope for a Fading Group in the Pacific Northwest.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 17 Jan. 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/17/science/orca-calf-seattle.html

In the Pacific Northwest, there is a pod of orcas that, ever since 2015, has never sired an orca calf that survives to maturity. The population has also been shrinking drastically, now with only 75 members in contrast to having 100 in the mid-90s. This is mostly due to pollution, boat traffic, and depletion of their main food source. Recently, a healthy calf named L124 has been born in that group, discovered by the marine biologist Melisa Pinnow. Although it’s unclear if its a male or a female, researchers who traveled with Pinnow are hoping for the latter because more reproductive-age females are necessary for the group’s survival. Orca groups reside all over the world, and while some are thriving, others are suffering, particularly those near industrial areas. One group near those areas is the Southern Residents, who have to deal with pollution and environmental crises. This group is divided into the J, K, and L pods, and the calf L124 was born to pod L. Recently, the pods seem to be in an upbeat mood, and all three pods even gathered in one area, which is a rare occurrence. Despite this, the festive mood was dull compared to how playful and interactive the orcas were many years ago. However, L124’s birth gives new hope to the researchers and they are waiting to see if this small phenomenon could make a difference. Pinnow advices for people to do several things to help the Southern Residents, such as banning net pens of farmed salmon or simply reducing the amount of salmon consumed.

Orcas are some of the most powerful predators in the world and are incredibly important to the ecosystems where they reside, which is all of the oceans. However, problems such as overfishing and pollution have threatened the survival of many groups. A large reason why every birth in pod L has been either a miscarriage or had the calf die shortly after birth is because of a variety of biochemicals called polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. These tend to linger in the blubber of female whales, which get onto their offspring and lead to early death. Drastic results can occur if their numbers fall any further, which is why it’s important to act now before the balance of the oceanic ecosystems get disturbed.

One thing that the article did well was that it was simple, concise, and easy to understand. The formatting, order of topics, and non complicated language made it so that the reader did not have to have any previous knowledge on this subject in order to know what was going on. However, one thing that I think the author could have done is talk more about why L124 specifically may be a beacon of hope for the survival of this orca pod. As the reader, I was not fully convinced that this particular calf was anything special, or if it was more likely to survive than all of the other calves who died in the past four years. To improve, I suggest that the author could incorporate more information from the researchers regarding the health and wellbeing of L124 and how it was different than the other infant whales.