The killer whale populations of the NE Pacific Ocean face a daunting set of threats, including noise and disturbance, diminished abundance of prey, and exceptionally high levels of toxic chemicals. Research in British Columbia and Washington State has shed light on the nature of these threats, using minimally-invasive biopsy techniques, novel field studies, and newly developed laboratory methods to measure health. However, it is the acquisition of knowledge on the individual identities of these killer whales that provides the ultimate basis for a biological and ecological understanding of the nature of the threats at the population level. Each and every resident killer whale is known to researchers, by age, by sex, by family association, and by feeding type. By combining multiple lines of evidence, scientists have painted a bleak picture about the future of these animals. The long lives, high trophic level, and very large habitat needs of killer whales render them exceptionally vulnerable to anthropogenic activities. At one killer whale per 100,000 humans in the transboundary region of southern BC and Washington State, these killer whales are special!

Peter S. Ross is a marine mammal toxicologist at the Institute of Ocean Sciences (Fisheries and Oceans Canada) in Sidney, British Columbia, Canada. He has been carrying out research on environmental contaminants in marine mammals for 20 years. He holds Adjunct Professorships at Simon Fraser University and the University of Victoria. He obtained his PhD from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands (1995), his MSc from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia (1990), and his BSc (Honours) from Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario (1985). He has published over 95 international scientific articles and book chapters. Dr Ross is an international authority on the effects of persistent organic pollutants on the health of marine mammals. He has provided advice to conservation teams on several endangered marine mammals, including the Mediterranean monk seal, the northern right whale, California sea otters, Galapagos sea lions, Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, and NE Pacific killer whales. Dr. Ross gives numerous public lectures to audiences around the world, and his work has been featured in local, national and international newspapers, magazines, radio and television.