Testing whether the Availability of Chinook Salmon is Insufficient to Support a Healthy Southern Resident Killer Whale Population

近年来，南方虎鲸的身体状况不佳，导致它们无法获得足够的首选猎物（奇努克鲑鱼）来满足日常需求。目前尚不清楚这是由于过度捕捞或环境变化导致鲑鱼数量和质量下降，还是由于船只交通和声音干扰导致虎鲸无法接近鲑鱼。我们的目标是：1)验证奇努克鲑鱼的数量不足以支持南方虎鲸健康种群的假设；2)增加对这一重要猎物物种的海上分布及其影响因素的认识；3)确定成年支努干虎鲸和渔业的可用时间；4)确定虎鲸成功觅食所需的条件。我们将通过构建比较生物能量学模型来预测南虎鲸和北虎鲸数量增加和减少的每日食物需求，并结合环境变化、捕捞压力和船只干扰来评估对营养状况的影响。我们还将利用停泊在温哥华岛内部水域的接收器网络，跟踪和监测标签鱼的运动，同时跟踪单个虎鲸的精细运动。我们提出的研究是新颖和及时的，并补充了我们正在与DFO合作进行的研究，以确定奇努克的可用性是否足以支持不列颠哥伦比亚省南部居住的虎鲸。我们的研究将对渔业管理、虎鲸保护和不列颠哥伦比亚省南部许多沿海社区的经济产生直接影响。它拓宽了加拿大恢复研究的基础，加速了海洋哺乳动物科学家的发展，并最终增加了可获得的科学信息，以支持政府决策和保护优先鲸鱼物种的努力。

The poor body condition of southern resident killer whales in recent years points to them not being able toobtain enough of their preferred prey (Chinook salmon) to meet their daily needs. It is unknown whether this isdue to reduced abundance and quality of salmon from overfishing or environmental change, or reduced salmonaccessibility by killer whales due to vessel traffic and acoustic disturbance. Our objectives are to 1) test thehypothesis that the availability of Chinook salmon is insufficient to support a healthy population of southernresident killer whales; 2) increase knowledge about the at-sea distribution of this important prey species, andthe factors that influence it; 3) determine the time that adult Chinook are available to killer whales andfisheries; and 4) determine the conditions required for killer whales to successfully forage. We will achieve ourobjectives by a) constructing comparative bioenergetics models to predict daily food requirements of increasingand decreasing pods of southern and northern killer whales, and incorporating environmental variability,fishing pressure, and vessel disturbance to assess impact on nutritional status. We will also track the fine-scalemovements of individual killer whales in conjunction with tracking and monitoring the movements of taggedfish using a network of receivers moored in the inside waters of Vancouver Island. The research we areproposing is novel and timely, and complements ongoing research we are doing in partnership with DFO toresolve whether availability of Chinook is sufficient to support southern resident killer whales in BritishColumbia. Our research will have direct implications for the management of fisheries, the conservation ofkiller whales, and economies of many of our coastal communities in southern British Columbia. It broadens thebase of recovery research in Canada, accelerates the development of marine mammal scientists, and ultimatelyincreases the scientific information available to support government decision-making and conservation effortsfor a priority whale species.