Our Research
Words we use to describe
our work:
Non-invasive
All our data collection is observational in nature only, and thus can be done from shore or from a distance on the water. When operating in US waters, we follow all federal and state viewing regulations for both ecotypes as well as the additional voluntary Be Whale Wise guidelines followed by the Pacific Whale Watch Association. In Canadian waters, we follow all federal regulations and interim measures regarding the viewing of Southern Resident killer whales. For Bigg’s killer whales in Canadian waters, we operate under a DFO research permit that allows us to view Bigg’s within 400m within Southern Resident critical habitat.
Long-term
When studying long-lived animals like killer whales, deciphering patterns and documenting changes takes prolonged effort. We believe that careful observation over periods of years and eventually decades will lead to further insights into orca behavior, and thus many of our projects are designed to be long-term datasets. Some types of research can be done over a few-week or few-month field season, but we focus on year-round opportunistic data collection.
Collaborative
Orcas are wide-ranging creatures, traveling up to 100 miles or more in a day and ranging over thousands of miles over the course of a year. While some of our research relies on our own firsthand observations in the field, tracking other aspects of behavior like habitat usage can be done much more efficiently and effectively in partnership with other community scientists. We partner with a variety of individuals and organizations both to conduct research and to advocate for orcas. Some of the organizations we work with include Orca Network, the Pacific Whale Watch Association, Orcasound Hydrophone Network, Whale Scout, Salish Sea Orca Squad, and The Salish Sea School.
Our primary data collection efforts focus on 3 main topics:
1 - Behavioral Observations
At the core of OBI’s work is our behavioral data collection the field. Modeled after a study conducted by Rich Osborne and the Orca Survey team in the late 1970s and early 1980s, we record continuous observations of focal individuals and groups noting metrics like speed, spread, direction of travel, social associations, prey pursuit, and a variety of surface behaviors. Using these objectively defined criteria in the field, we later code these combined observations into discrete behavioral categories, letting our analysis be guided by how the whales are actually behaving rather than by utilizing the classic pre-defined subjective categories of traveling, foraging, socializing, and resting.
2 - Acoustic Communication
Co-founder Monika Wieland Shields' first introduction to whale research was through being an acoustics research intern stationed at Lime Kiln Lighthouse listening to Southern Resident killer whales on a near-daily basis during summers in the early 2000s, and thus orca communication remains a focus in her work at OBI. She is particularly interested in changes in discrete call repertoires over time, stereotyped whistle usage, and the potential to link calls with visual behaviors. We make our own hydrophone recordings in the field and partner with live-streaming hydrophones including Orcasound.net to obtain acoustic recordings.
3 - Habitat Usage
One of the original motivators to start OBI was the observation that the presence of Southern Resident killer whales was declining in what used to be considered their core summer habitat. Our Southern Resident presence/absence tracking initially focused on the summer months in the central Salish Sea, but has since expanded to cover the entirety of the Salish Sea on a year-round basis in order to document shifts in habitat usage at the level of the population, pod, and matriline. In 2017, we also started documenting the presence of Bigg’s killer whales in the same level of detail, working with partners to accurately monitor and record the incredible and continuing rise of the Bigg’s in the Salish Sea.
As a small non-profit organization, we can also pivot our research focus to include other types of data collection as other relevant or time-sensitive questions arise. During some seasons we work on additional side projects, pilot new types of data collection, and/or link our research to other existing data sets to relate whale behavior to broader questions such as prey availability or vessel effects.