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Oct 14, 2008 727 pm
More sad news for Southern Resident Orcas
It has been a difficult year for the endangered Southern Resident orca (killer whale) population, and after wrapping up their annual survey in late September, the Center for Whale Research has reported that seven whales are missing at this time, and with the addition of one new surviving calf, the population is now believed to be at 83 (click here for Orca Network’s births/deaths page).
In addition to 98 year old female K7/”Lummi”, the elder of K pod, also missing are:
23 year old L67/”Splash” (Luna’s mom), and
six year old L101/”Aurora” (Luna’s brother),
58 year old female L21/”Ankh”,
36 year old female J11/”Blossom”,
and two unnamed calves, J43 (missing last winter) and L111 born in August 2008 to L47, missing by the end of August).
Only one calf born this year survives, K42, born in June.
It has been apparent to those observing the whales this summer that salmon have not been in abundance – all three pods have had to leave the Salish Sea area on and off during the summer in search of salmon, and when they were present, they often were traveling in widely spread out groups, which typically means they are having to spread out to find enough salmon to feed the pod.
Our hope is for a strong chum salmon run this fall in Puget Sound, so the whales can get some nutrition before the winter season, when they leave the inland waters in search of food up and down the coast.
But if we don’t act NOW to restore the Chinook salmon runs in the Pacific, this trend will likely continue, and the population is already so small that its survival hangs in the balance.
What can we do about all this?
Support salmon restoration efforts, reduced harvests, taking down dams, stopping farmed salmon operations, stop using pesticides, fertilizers or chemicals in your home and garden, and contact your elected officials to make sure they know how important salmon, orcas, and their habitats are to you. Think about these issues when you vote – who will best help clean up our waters, and save our salmon and orcas from extinction?
And visit our News Page for some recent articles on salmon restoration efforts as well as some of the human impacts that have led to the demise of our once healthy, abundant salmon runs.
If we don’t save the salmon, there is no hope for the orcas –
Susan & Howard, Orca Network
from the Orca Network Whale Report
Update May 16, 2018 11:12am
Our local whale population is down to 76 according to this link
https://www.orcanetwork.org/Main/index.php?categories_file=Births%20and%20Deaths
What is good is that we can see that some whales are surviving in our coastal waters. Do you notice trends? Please reply here
https://www.facebook.com/cascadianorth/?ref=br_rs
Water is Life 🙂
Thank you for visiting.
Art by author jbw with Mona Diggs-Evans, age 4 2008
#bbymtn2018
Rhizome Baobab 