Status Review Update of Southern Resident Killer Whales

On March 21, 2013, after a public comment period on the 90-day finding, the NMFS Northwest Region requested that the Northwest Fisheries Science Center conduct a scientific review and evaluation of the petition, the key scientific papers cited in the petition, the biological information received from the public, and any other best available relevant information. Specifically, the Northwest Region requested the Center to consider if there is new best available information that would lead to different conclusions from those of the 2004 BRT (Krahn et al. 2004) regarding the existence of a North Pacific resident killer whale taxon (species or subspecies) or the discreteness or significance of the SRKW with reference to this taxon. This report is intended to address the Northwest Region’s request.