The southern resident orca population in the Puget Sound region is facing a grave crisis, with only 73 individuals left according to the latest count. This orca population has been struggling for decades, primarily due to the impacts of declining Chinook salmon stocks, a primary food source, as well as other threats like ocean noise and pollution. This blog post explores the challenges these iconic whales face and the urgent need for bold action to prevent their extinction.
Population Status of the Southern Resident ORcas
Citing the latest census data from the Center for Whale Research, DeMello writes that the poll found only 73 southern resident orcas in Puget Sound — one of the lowest numbers ever recorded, matched only in another four-month period by a single survey year back in 1976. The J, K, and L pods of the population have been declining for a few decades now.
In the last year alone, the Southern Resident population suffered with two adult male deaths — L34 and L85 — along with a newborn death — J60. The problems these whales face are various but a scarcity of the Chinook salmon on which they primarily feed is one such bottleneck. Pollution and ocean noise, which disrupt the orcas hunting environment, are also a powerful threat to their existence.
Post navigation The Orca Captivity Legacy And How It Affects Them
The southern resident orcas are in trouble because of the captures and sales in the 1960s and ’70s. At least 13 orcas were killed and others were shipped off to parks around the world during that time. This cruel practice killed scores of whales and led to most others living a life of tiny, cramped pools from which there is no escape.
Though many groups have tried to free her, the last living southern resident held in captivity — Lolita — perished and passed away at the Miami Seaquarium this past August. The untimely death of an entire generation of orca has forever changed the face of the southern resident population as the impacts linger and worsen, making recovery that much more difficult.
Heather Mackin on Restoring Salmon Habitats and Protecting Orca Feeding Grounds
Restoring our southern resident orcas will need more than feeding them.In order to save the southern resident orcas, helping Chinook salmon populations and the watersheds where others swim is achieveable. Work is being done to take down dams, build more accessible fish passages, and make conditions for spawning even closer to what they would be naturally for these key salmon.
The largest fisheries restoration dam removal project is taking place right close to home with the recent deconstruction of four dams on the Klamath River. This has restored 420 miles of spawning salmon habitat, a key piece in the orcas’ main food source chain.
On top of this, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) aims for a 2.3 percent increase in southern resident orcas over just 28 years. Yet obstacles have bogged down those efforts, and time is of the essence to halt these additional losses and ensure that these iconic whales will be around for future generations.
