Killer whales in Hawai‘i
A group of three killer whales off the island of Hawai‘i, May 2003, photo by Alice Mackay.
Killer whales are found world-wide, and are one of the most well-known species of whale in the world. In Hawaiian waters they are rare, to say the least. In a 2002 National Marine Fisheries Service survey of the entire Hawaiian Exclusive Economic Zone, extending 200 nautical miles (370 km) offshore of all the islands, including the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, there were only two on-effort sightings of killer whales, and the resultant estimate of abundance in the entire area was only of 349 individuals (Barlow 2006). In our work since 2000, covering over 50,000 km of trackline, we've only seen killer whales once, a group of four in May 2003 (see above photo).
In 2006 we published a compilation of 21 records of killer whales in Hawaiian waters from 1994 through 2004 (a copy can be downloaded here). From those records killer whales had been recorded during nine months of the year. Since then they've been recorded in two additional months (June and October), so the only month of the year they've not been recorded in Hawaiian waters is December.
Although there were more records during the humpback whale season, there are also more people on the water working with whales during that time of the year, so they don't necessarily use Hawaiian waters more when humpback whales are around. Since that publication there have been a number of additional sighting records, and one stranding, of killer whales around the main Hawaiian Islands, but these records likely reflect more people on the water and more communication among those who see the whales than any actual increase in the number of killer whales using the main Hawaiian Islands.
An adult male off the island of Hawai‘i, June 9, 2009. Photo (c) Masa Usioda/Coolwaterphoto.com
There is no evidence of a "resident" population of killer whales in Hawai‘i - whales seen around the main Hawaiian Islands are likely part of a wide-ranging population that inhabits the central Pacific. There are some physical differences from killer whales seen in Hawai‘i compared to the well-known populations along the west coast of North America. The saddle patch (the gray area below and behind the dorsal fin) is very narrow in killer whales in Hawai‘i, and also not very bright (i.e., difficult to see except in ideal light conditions).
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