Southern Resident Orca Recovery 

Evaluating the effects of Southern Resident orcas recovery actions and external threats in the marine ecosystem of Puget Sound 

Researchers employ Atlantis ecosystem modeling to evaluate the ecosystem-level effects of the Southern Resident orca recovery actions and external threats in the marine ecosystem of Puget Sound.

Principal Investigator

Hem Nalini Morzaria-Luna, Long Live the Kings

Co-Principal Investigators

Elizabeth Fulton, CSIRO Oceans & Atmosphere

Chris Harvey, Northwest Fisheries Science Center

Isaac Kaplan, Northwest Fisheries Science Center

Melissa Knox, Department of Economics, University of Washington

Heidi Pethybridge, CSIRO Oceans & Atmosphere

Javier Porobic, CSIRO Oceans & Atmosphere

Michael Schmidt, Long Live the Kings

Project

In light of the recent high-level efforts to recover Southern Resident orcas in the Salish Sea, the research team carried out an evaluation of ecosystem-level and economic impacts of recovery actions aimed at enhancing orca population growth and long-term sustainability. They focused on future cumulative impacts on the orcas from oil spills and climate change using Atlantis models, which simulate whole ecosystems.

The team made significant refinements to the Atlantis Model for Puget Sound (AMPS) and the Salish Sea Atlantis Model (SSAM). In particular, the team made refinements related to salmon group behavior in the AMPS model and collaborated on developing a contaminant submodel for the SSAM model. These advances make the modeling tool more useful for future regional projections.