Posts Tagged ‘Southern Residents’
Atlantic salmon net pens threaten wild salmon, endangered orcas
An investigation into the August 2017 disaster at an Atlantic salmon net pen facility in the Salish Sea, an inland waterway home to multiple types of whales and dolphins, found that the scale of the event was greatly downplayed by the owners of the fish farm. Washington State launched an investigation into the facility after…
Read MoreCanadian organizations push government for emergency action to save Southern Resident orcas
Canada conservation organizations are petitioning their federal government to take immediate action under the Species at Risk Act (SARA, the Canadian equivalent to the U.S. Endangered Species Act) to protect the endangered Southern Resident orca population and the Chinook salmon they depend on. They are specifically seeking measures to protect critical feeding areas, including limiting…
Read MoreOrca Salmon Alliance opposes proposal to expand offshore drilling
PRESS RELEASE: Trump’s Offshore Drilling Plan: A Death Sentence for Southern Resident Orcas (January 16, 2018) – The Trump administration’s recent proposal to expand offshore oil and gas drilling could hasten the extinction of the Pacific Northwest’s last 76 Southern Resident killer whales. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has proposed opening nearly the entire U.S. coastline…
Read MoreCourt denies appeal for Lolita, still held captive in Florida
Sadly, despite a plea from U.S. celebrity and well-known advocate Bob Barker to retire Tokitae (Lolita) to a seaside sanctuary, an appeals court ruling has blocked the latest effort to Free Lolita. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined that the Miami Seaquarium’s undersized tank, lack of social companions, and inadequate treatment was not…
Read MoreVessel Regulations not harming whale watching, but benefit to orcas is uncertain
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has released a new Technical Memorandum reviewing whether vessel regulations put into effect in 2011 reduced vessel noise and harassment of endangered Southern Resident orcas. This unique community of orcas resides off the west coast of the United States and Canada, and the top three threats to the population…
Read MoreA Summer Without Orcas
For Southern Resident orcas, it all comes back to the salmon Every summer since I became the Jessica Rekos Fellow for Orca Conservation at WDC, I’ve had the pleasure of traveling up to the San Juan Islands in Washington State to meet with orca researchers, conservationists, and advocates from all around the world. WDC believes…
Read MoreSouthern Residents: turning talk into action
Even while we were busy absorbing information and networking at last month’s Society for Marine Mammalogy Biennial Conference, the world went on without us (shocking!) and a couple important news stories broke about the Southern Resident orcas. I did a quick read-through while we were at the conference, and have had more time this week…
Read MoreSouthern Resident orcas face second loss this year
The Center for Whale Research (CWR) made the sad determination yesterday that 2-year old Sonic (J52) is now deceased. This is the second death for the critically endangered Southern Resident orca population this year, after a summer in which they were barely seen in their usual summer habitat. This unique and fragile population now has…
Read MoreSouthern Resident orcas lose another matriarch
In sad news during a strange summer for the critically endangered Southern Resident orcas, the Center for Whale Research (CWR) has announced the disappearance, and presumed death, of another matriarch of the Southern Resident community. K13, Skagit, was a leader in K pod, estimated to be about 45 years old. Her death brings K pod,…
Read MoreTrans mountain pipeline construction stopped
From the west coast of Canada: the provincial government of British Columbia has taken action to prevent Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. Contruction was scheduled to begin in September but will not be allowed to move forward on public and Tribal lands under further consultation with First Nations is completed. The government has retained…
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