The oldest living male in the southern resident killer whale community, L41, seen above in the Strait of Juan de Fuca is missing and feared dead. MarkMalleson / iStock / Getty Images
Yet another endangered southern resident orca is missing, and researchers fear he is dead.
<p>The whale, known as L41 or Mega, was the largest and oldest of all southern resident orca males. He was a significant member of the embattled group of killer whales who swim between the waters of Washington and Canada. He and another whale fathered most of the orcas born to the group after 1990, <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/another-southern-resident-orca-feared-dead/" target="_blank">The Seattle Times reported</a>. But when researchers encountered his family last Friday, he was not with them.<br></p><p>"He was just a really big personality, and a big whale, and of course he was an important member of his family," Deborah Giles, a research scientist at the University of Washington's <a href="http://conservationbiology.uw.edu/" target="_blank">Center for Conservation Biology</a> and the research director of the nonprofit <a href="http://www.wildorca.org/" target="_blank">Wild Orca</a>, told The Seattle Times. "I am going to miss seeing him."</p><p>The news of L41's disappearance came when the <a href="https://www.whaleresearch.com/" target="_blank">Center for Whale Research</a> (CWR) <a href="https://www.whaleresearch.com/2020-2" target="_blank">reported</a> its second orca encounter of 2020 on Jan. 24.</p><p>"Unfortunately, L41 was not present for the entire encounter. Given his age and that he looked a little thin in our January 2019 encounter, we fear he may be gone and will consider him missing unless he shows up unexpectedly in an upcoming encounter," CWR staff member Dave Ellifrit wrote.</p>
<div id="2dd2f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="22YWWF1580409039"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1222228218142326784" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">This was CWR’s first encounter with the L12s in inshore waters in over a year. Last year’s calf, L124, looked good… https://t.co/eTkVZEmcrz</div> — Whale Research (@Whale Research)<a href="https://twitter.com/CWROrcas/statuses/1222228218142326784">1580236889.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Mega was last seen in August 2019 when he was photographed by Mark Malleson.</p><p>Mega was born in 1977 and fathered 21 calves. He was also a physically iconic whale, as The Seattle Times described:</p><blockquote>He was a classically beautiful orca bull, with a towering dorsal fin, rising straight without a waver from his back. Big and powerful, he was easy to spot and the only adult male left in his immediate family. A nick on the trailing edge of his dorsal made him easily identifiable, along with his massive size, from a long distance.</blockquote><p>If he is truly gone, it will bring the number of southern resident killer whales down to 72, the second-lowest since counting began 45 years ago. There were 71 recorded in 1976 during a time when a third of the whales were captured and sent to aquariums.</p><p>While killer whales around the world are doing well, the southern resident whales are threatened with <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/species-extinction" target="_self">extinction</a>, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/30/us/endangered-orca-missing-dead-scn-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">CNN explained</a>. This is due to a combination of factors including noise and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/shipping-industry" target="_self">shipping</a> traffic, but the biggest threat faced by the species is the disappearance of chinook <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/salmon" target="_self">salmon</a>, its chief food.</p><p>When the orcas have less salmon to eat, they rely on their stores of fat, which are filled with accumulated toxins that make the whales sick, <a href="https://www.orcaconservancy.org/" target="_blank">Orca Conservancy</a> President Shari Tarantino told CNN.</p>
<p>To address this problem, environmental advocates argue that the Snake River dams should be breached. One study found that if only four of 15 were removed, the population of salmon would double or triple. </p>
<p>"(Killer whales) are at the top of the food chain," Tarantino told CNN. "So when they're failing, everything beneath in the ecosystem is failing. That is a huge warning. It would be an absolute mess."</p>
<p>However, there was a silver lining to Friday's orca encounter. L124, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/new-calf-southern-resident-orcas-2625954104.html" target="_self">a calf born last year and named Lucky</a>, was present and looked healthy. It is a big deal for an orca calf to live a full year, The Seattle Times said.</p>
<p>And not everyone is convinced Mega is truly gone.</p>
<p>"I'm not buying it," former whale-watch boat captain Hobbes Buchanan told The Seattle Times. "He may have wandered off to do his own thing, and will come back. I am totally just not giving up."</p>
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Pacific Northwest orca with Mount Baker in the background near the Strait of Georgia off the coast of Vancouver, British Columbia. Sergio Amiti / Moment / Getty Images
The extremely endangered population of Southern Resident killer whales off the coast of Washington and British Columbia fell to 73 after 3 orcas went missing, the Center for Whale Research said in a statement.
<p>The Washington state-based research center takes an annual survey of the killer whale population from the extremely endangered pods that once frequented the Salish Sea in southwestern Canada and northwestern Washington daily in the summer months. Now, the declining Chinook salmon stocks means the whales are rarely seen and are starving to death, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/07/us/three-killer-whales-dead-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported. </p>
<p>But a lack of Chinook salmon means they are rarely seen in those waters anymore.</p><p>"They aren't getting their prey, and that's the problem," said Michael Weiss, a field biologist with the Center for Whale Research, to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/07/us/three-killer-whales-dead-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>. Weiss said this problem started in the 90s when the population was around 100 whales, but it has been in a steady decline ever since.</p><p>"It is right inline with the trajectory that has been predicted for several years," said Howard Garrett, co-founder and board president of Orca Network on Whidbey Island, Washington, as the <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/5735889/3-missing-orcas-presumed-dead/" target="_blank">Global News</a> in Canada reported. "It's very, very sad. These are known individuals. People care about them, we've gotten to know them over many, many years and we know their family lines … and now we'll see them never again."</p><p>The Southern Resident orca population is a large extended family comprising three pods named J, K and L. The three missing orcas are J17, K25 and L84. In the summer, the whales should visit the Puget Sound, the Georgia Strait and the inland reach of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.</p><p>However, it has been more than a month since the J and K pods were spotted in their summer waters. L pod has not been seen in the inland Salish Sea at all, according to the <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/three-southern-resident-orcas-missing-presumed-dead/" target="_blank">Seattle Times</a>. Instead, the whales have stayed on the outer coast all summer.</p><p>"I predicted we would be in this fix," said Ken Balcomb, founding director of the Center for Whale Research, as the <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/three-southern-resident-orcas-missing-presumed-dead/" target="_blank">Seattle Times</a> reported. "Until we solve this food issue, we will keep going through this trauma, getting all excited when there is a baby and all upset when there is a death. We have to take care of the food problem."</p><p>In January, the Center for Whale Research warned that J17 looked emaciated with a misshapen head and neck that were symptomatic of starvation, according to the <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/5735889/3-missing-orcas-presumed-dead/" target="_blank">Global News</a>.</p><p>J17 was a 42-year-old matriarch in the pod who left behind two daughters and a son, J35, J53, and J44, respectively. Her daughter, J35, or Tahlequah, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/12/us/orca-whale-not-carrying-dead-baby-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">made headlines</a> last summer when she carried her dead baby calf around the sea for an unprecedented 17 days, according to the <a href="https://www.whaleresearch.com/july2019population" target="_blank">Center for Whale Research</a>. She has now lost her own baby and her mother.</p><p>Her death is particularly alarming since it puts her family at risk. Older female Southern Resident whales help feed their families. Sons are up to eight times more likely to die within a year if they lose their mothers, as the <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/three-southern-resident-orcas-missing-presumed-dead/" target="_blank">Seattle Times</a> reported. </p><p>The center also reported that K25, a 28-year-old adult male in his prime, was not in good body condition last winter. He is survived by two sisters and a brother, K20, K27, and K34, respectively.</p><p>The third missing what is L84, a 29-year-old male who was the last of a surviving member in a matriline line of 11 whales. </p>
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An orca jumps out of the sea in Lund, British Columbia. Schaef1 / iStock / Getty Images Plus
By the end of June, it will be illegal to keep whales and dolphins in captivity in Canada, the Huffington Post reported Tuesday.
<p>The so-called "<a href="https://www.parl.ca/LegisInfo/BillDetails.aspx?Language=e&Mode=1&billId=8063284&View=5" target="_blank">Free Willy" bill</a> passed the Canadian House of Commons by an overwhelming majority Monday, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/canada-ban-free-willy-bill-makes-captivity-orcas-dolphins-cetaceans-illegal/" target="_blank">CBS News reported</a>. It now must pass through a process called "royal assent" in which either the governor general or their deputies sign off on the bill. It will make it illegal to keep cetaceans in captivity, breed them or import or export the intelligent marine mammals. Anyone who violates the law could face a fine of up to $150,000.</p><p>"Today is a really good day for animals in Canada," Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, who sponsored the bill in the House, said after it passed, according to the Huffington Post.</p>
<div id="87c54" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8PJC4X1576662239"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1138136694870482945" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#Breaking: When we work together, good things happen.
This is a combined effort from @ElizabethMay, Senators Moore… https://t.co/tRRHKB56ha</div> — Green Party Canada (@Green Party Canada)<a href="https://twitter.com/CanadianGreens/statuses/1138136694870482945">1560187908.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The bill was first introduced in the Senate in 2015 by Wilfred Moore, who retired in 2017 before he saw it passed. Moore said it was stalled by Conservative senators who used procedural tactics to keep it from advancing. It finally passed the Senate in October of 2018 after three years of debate, then cleared the House fisheries committee in April of this year, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/whales-1.5169138" target="_blank">CBC News reported</a>.</p><p>"Nothing fantastic ever happens in a hurry. But today we celebrate that we have ended the captivity and breeding of whales and dolphins. This is news to splash a fin at," <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/animal-rights" target="_self">animal rights</a> group <a href="https://www.humanecanada.ca/" target="_blank">Humane Canada</a> wrote in a tweet <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/10/americas/canada-whale-dolphin-bill-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank">reported by CNN</a>.</p>
<div id="14da8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9DU79B1576662239"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1138123963173933059" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Nothing fantastic ever happens in a hurry. But today we celebrate that we have ended the captivity and breeding of… https://t.co/XwekjkQ76m</div> — Humane Canada (@Humane Canada)<a href="https://twitter.com/HumaneCanada/statuses/1138123963173933059">1560184872.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>May said its passage was partly thanks to thousands of Canadians who wrote letters and emails in support of the measure. On two occasions, the Senate received so many emails that its servers crashed, Moore said, according to the Huffington Post.<br></p><p>"Canada is better for this," Moore said.</p><p>There are only two institutions left that keep whales and dolphins in captivity in Canada: the Vancouver Aquarium and Marineland, a Niagara Falls zoo and amusement park. The Vancouver Aquarium only has one dolphin left and announced in January it would no longer keep the marine mammals captive, CBC News reported. Marineland, on the other hand, owns around 61 cetaceans: 55 beluga whales, five bottlenose dolphins and one <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/orcas" target="_self">orca</a>. The park had argued the bill would threaten both its conservation efforts and its attendance, jeopardizing seasonal jobs.</p><p>When Conservative politicians stalled the bill in the Senate, May joked that the park had "managed to hold Conservative senators in captivity for a remarkably long time," the Huffington Post reported.</p><p>However, the bill is unlikely to impact the park in the near future, because it includes an exception allowing facilities that already have animals to keep them. Marineland has five young belugas who could therefore live in captivity for another 50 years, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/5376846/canada-whale-dolphin-captivity-ban-marineland/" target="_blank">Global News reported</a>.</p><p>"Marineland will continue to provide world-class care to all marine mammals that call Marineland home," Marineland said in a statement to Global News. "With our current mammal population, we will be able to operate decades into the future uninterrupted."</p><p>The bill also includes exceptions for rescue, rehabilitation and scientific research, CNN reported.</p><p>"A person may move a live cetacean from its immediate vicinity when the cetacean is injured or in distress and is in need of assistance," the bill reads, according to CNN.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Drones?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Drones</a> Capture Stunning Footage of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Humpback?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Humpback</a> and Gray <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Whales?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Whales</a> <a href="https://t.co/CFj5EDqhoQ">https://t.co/CFj5EDqhoQ</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/oceana?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@oceana</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ConservationOrg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ConservationOrg</a></p>— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) <a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/1061015658320855040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Southern resident killer whales off Vancouver Island, BC. MarkMalleson / iStock / Getty Images
A second baby orca has been born to the imperiled southern resident killer whales in less than six months.
<p>The calf was spotted by John Forde and Jennifer Steven of the <a href="https://www.tofinowhalecentre.com/" target="_blank">Whale Centre</a>, swimming with J Pod off the coast of Tofino, BC, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/newborn-baby-orca-spotted-swimming-with-j-pod-1.5158194" target="_blank">CBC News reported</a>.</p><p>"We were both really excited to see the calf was very orange and still had fetal folds," Steven wrote <a href="https://www.tofinowhalecentre.com/blog/2019/5/31/new-calf-with-j-pod" target="_blank">on her website</a>. She said they spotted the calf on Thursday and posted photos as proof. </p><p>The birth of the calf was confirmed by experts on both sides of the Canadian and U.S. border, as the whales roam the waters between Washington state and BC. </p><p>Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Canada shared the news on Twitter.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="52ef5" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6DEB2C1576663964"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1134599212908331009" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">We are happy to confirm that the newborn Southern Resident #KillerWhale calf spotted in Canadian Pacific waters nea… https://t.co/UwwJLrC4lw</div> — DFO Pacific (@DFO Pacific)<a href="https://twitter.com/DFO_Pacific/statuses/1134599212908331009">1559344506.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>The Washington-state-based <a href="https://www.whaleresearch.com/" target="_blank">Center for Whale Research</a>, which is the official recorder of southern resident demographics, also confirmed the birth, <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/new-orca-calf-reported-in-southern-resident-j-pod/" target="_blank">The Seattle Times reported</a>.<br></p><p>"Researchers at the CWR have confirmed that the calf is a new addition, and based on its coloration and body condition was likely born some time in the last 1 to 3 weeks," the group wrote in a <a href="https://www.whaleresearch.com/" target="_blank">press release</a>. "The calf was photographed in association with several J pod females, including J31, J46, and J40. More field observations are needed to confirm the identity of the calf's mother."</p><p>The birth comes around five months after a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/new-calf-southern-resident-orcas-2625954104.html" target="_self">calf was born to L Pod</a> in January. Since that calf is still alive, the new birth brings the southern resident population up to 76 whales. However, experts warn that only around 50 percent of orca calves survive their first year. </p><p>"It looked like it's doing really well, fingers crossed," Forde told The Seattle Times of the new baby.</p><p>Until January, the southern resident killer whales had not given birth to a surviving baby since 2016. A calf born in the summer of 2018 lived only half an hour. Its mother, Tahlequah, then carried the body for a heartbreaking <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/orca-mother-calf-mourning-2594507257.html" target="_self">17 days</a>, bringing international attention to the whales' plight.</p><p>The southern resident killer whale population is currently at a 30-year low, CBC News reported. This is largely due to a drop in their primary <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/food/" target="_self">food</a> source: Chinook <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/salmon" target="_self">salmon</a>. In December of 2018, Washington Gov. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/jay-inslee" target="_self">Jay Inslee</a> <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/washington-state-orcas-population-2623397879.html" target="_self">announced a plan</a> to boost the population of both whales and salmon.</p><p>Donna Sandstrom, a member of the Governor's Task Force on Whale Recovery, called the sighting "a ray of hope" in an email to The Seattle Times.</p><p>"Southern resident killer whales, their population is small so any birth is huge," DFO Marine Mammal Co-ordinator Paul Cottrell told CBC News.</p>
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A new baby has been born to the southern resident killer whales, pictured here near Pender Island, BC. Chris Cheadle / All Canada Photos / Getty Images
Is there hope for the critically endangered orcas that travel the waters between Seattle and BC, Canada? The southern resident killer whales have added a new member to their shrinking numbers: a baby that Center for Whale Research (CWR) Founding Director Ken Balcomb has named Lucky.
<p>
Balcomb confirmed the calf's birth with to
<a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/new-orca-calf-spotted-among-puget-sounds-critically-endangered-killer-whales/" target="_blank">The Seattle Times Friday,</a> saying that the baby was healthy.
</p><p>
"It's great news," Balcomb said.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="dbc6c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="B4CDJY1576663966"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1083888560061575168" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">We have great news! We have a new baby L124, and mom is L77. We just got off the water, and we will have more pictu… https://t.co/CiYaSURprk</div> — Whale Research (@Whale Research)<a href="https://twitter.com/CWROrcas/statuses/1083888560061575168">1547254145.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
The birth comes at a critical time for the southern resident killer whales. Between June and September of 2018, the population lost three whales,
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/orca-whale-j50-2604820556.html" target="_self">bringing its numbers down to 74</a>. Lucky's birth has bumped that number up to 75, but the new calf's survival is not certain. The last baby to be born to the southern resident orcas lived only half an hour. Its mother, Tahlequah, carried the body for a heartbreaking <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/orca-mother-calf-mourning-2594507257.html" target="_self">17 days this summer</a>, bringing international attention to the whales' plight. The population has not given birth to a surviving calf for three years.</p>
<p>"Approximately 40 percent of newborn calves do not survive their first few years, but we hope that this one makes it to maturity, especially if it is female," CWR wrote in a press release announcing the birth.<br></p><p>
The new baby was first spotted in a video shot Thursday by Seattle's King 5 News near Washington's Vachon Island,
<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/new-calf-spotted-with-endangered-southern-resident-killer-whale-pod-1.4975658" target="_blank">CBC News reported</a>. It was seen beside the whale L77, who had been pregnant.</p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="405" src="//www.cbc.ca/i/caffeine/syndicate/?mediaId=1424434755965" width="720"></iframe></div><p>CWR told the story of how they confirmed the birth:<br></p><blockquote>
On January 10, 2019, TV stations in Seattle aired live aerial footage of several groups of killer whales in Puget Sound near Seattle, and discerning viewers were able to see a very small whale among them. CWR researcher, Melisa Pinnow, was able to see that L pod individuals were in one of the groups with a new baby. It was associated with a female, L77. The whales were still in Puget Sound by nightfall. At 5:45 am this morning they were heard on the CWR sponsored hydrophone at Bush Point in Admiralty Inlet. We dispatched a research team from San Juan Island, and they encountered the whales exiting Admiralty Inlet at 9:50 am with their new baby!
</blockquote><p>
L77 is the 31-year old mother of two other calves. Her first, born in 2010, died the same year. Her second, a female, is still alive and known as L119. The new baby is officially dubbed L124, CWR said.
</p><p>
"The calf appeared to be about 3 weeks old and was bouncing around between L25, L41, L77 L85, and L119," CWR reported in a
<a href="https://www.whaleresearch.com/2019-2" target="_blank">summary of its "encounter"</a> with the whales Friday.
</p><p>
Southern resident killer whales are struggling due to a decline in their primary
<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/food/" target="_self">food</a> source: Chinook <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/salmon" target="_self">salmon</a>. Scientists said this month that they expected two more whales to die of starvation in 2019, CBC News reported.
</p><p>
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/washington-state-orcas-population-2623397879.html" target="_self">announced a massive push</a> to save the whales in December, including earmarking more than $300 million for salmon recovery, culvert removal and water quality and supply improvement projects.
</p>
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Washington Gov. Proposes 'Herculean Effort' to Save 74 Remaining Southern Resident Orcas
14 December 2018
Animals
Southern Resident killer whale mother and her calf swimming. NOAA
With only 74 left in the wild, the Southern Resident orca population in Puget Sound needs help now more than ever. That's why on Thursday, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee's office announced "an unprecedented investment" to help boost the population as well as the Chinook salmon they eat.
"We are undertaking a herculean effort to save these iconic creatures. It will take action at every level of the environment across our entire state," Inslee said in a news release. "We need to restore the ecosystem to one that sustains orcas, salmon and the quality of life for all Washingtonians."
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="eff3a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="WFXJO41576662601"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1073362594851782656" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">We are undertaking a herculean effort to save these iconic creatures. It will take action at every level of the env… https://t.co/bqhXtek1iq</div> — Governor Jay Inslee (@Governor Jay Inslee)<a href="https://twitter.com/GovInslee/statuses/1073362594851782656">1544744559.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
The population of the beloved killer whales is at a 30-year low. Their plight was underscored this summer when a mother whale Tahlequah, or J35, carried her dead calf for at least seventeen days and 1,000 miles in her heartbreaking "tour of grief" this August.
</p><p>
Then in September, the ailing J50, another member of Tahlequah's pod, was <a href="https://www.whaleresearch.com/j50" target="_blank">declared</a> missing and presumed dead after a three-day search in the waters between Washington state and Canada.
</p><p>
Inslee's orca recovery plan is part of his 2019–21 state budget, which proposes about $1.1 billion in combined investments to address the main problems faced by the critically
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered</a> killer whales: a lack of salmon; <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/orca-whale-lulu-pcbs-scotland-2390741690.html" target="_self">toxic contaminants</a>; and vessel traffic and noise.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="f484e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="XXOUU01576662601"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1041008870548795392" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#Orca Whale #J50 'Missing and Now Presumed Dead' https://t.co/dLEFpXP6hB @NOAA @CWROrcas @oceana</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/1041008870548795392">1537030830.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
Much of the investment will go towards improving the diets of Southern Resident orcas, which mostly eat Chinook salmon. But the salmon's numbers are <a href="https://www.epa.gov/salish-sea/chinook-salmon" target="_blank">down 60 percent</a> and if they continue to decline, the orca population will too.
</p><p>
For that reason, Inslee's proposed budget will provide $363 million in the capital budget for salmon recovery, culvert removal, water quality and water supply projects that will expand and improve salmon survival across the state.
</p><p>
Other proposals include a ban on commercial whale-watching of the Southern Residents for three years, increasing the distance boats must stay away from the orcas from the current federal rules of 200 yards to 400 yards, reducing risks of catastrophic oil spills, and removal and prevention of toxic contaminants in the waters. The money will also go towards scientific research and monitoring efforts.
<span></span>
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTAwMzM1NC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MjI0ODc4OH0.dmKkXG52mrVw5GgCRnu88De6EnU4yciJrDDn_YSoR5U/img.png?width=980" id="0201c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="63b6536da427408d8ea0e8088e60f9e6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
</p><p>
Inslee's orca recovery plan follows recommendations issued this fall by the governor's Southern Resident Orca Task Force. The
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/orcas-gov-orders-protections-2547956591.html" target="_self">task force</a> recommended an initial target of increasing the population to 84 orcas over the next decade.
</p><p>
<span></span>Tax increases will be needed to pay for Inslee's plan, the <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/gov-jay-inslee-wants-1-1-billion-to-help-save-puget-sounds-critically-endangered-orcas/" target="_blank">The Seattle Times</a> reported.
</p><p>
The Democratic governor, who is "<a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/01/inslee-iowa-2020-856801" target="_blank">not ruling out</a>" 2020 run for president, is a strong <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/us-climate-alliance-2487955480.html" target="_self">climate and environmental advocate</a>. Saving the orcas will require the sacrifices of the state residents to help the imperiled orcas, he told the Times.
</p><p>
"Everybody is involved in this mission and everyone has to be for it to succeed," Inslee added. "These expenditures have to be done now. There are lots of things in life you can put off for a decade. This is not one of them … This is a one-time shot."
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Masha Netrebenko / Facebook
Ninety belugas and 11 orcas are being held in tiny enclosures described by media reports as "whale jails" off Russia's Pacific east coast.
An investigation has been launched at the site near city of Nakhodka, where some of the whales have been contained since July, CBS News reported.
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="45884" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="68UJU51576662647"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1060321001081311232" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">‘Whale prison’ discovered by drone in Far East Russia https://t.co/gkZBVmYwVp</div> — RT (@RT)<a href="https://twitter.com/RT_com/statuses/1060321001081311232">1541635201.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
In the video below, a crane lifts a whale into an onshore tank in preparation for transport to an unknown destination.
</p><p>
It's believed that the cetaceans will be sold to Chinese aquariums, despite the fact that it is illegal to capture wild whales except for scientific and educational purposes. Commercial whale hunting has been banned worldwide since 1982.
</p><p>
Killer whales can reportedly fetch up to $6 million at marine parks in China.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cdc6ad7fd1b648326592a077a3def7b5"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4911HX4O0QE?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Из «китовой тюрьмы» в Приморье вывозят млекопитающих</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4911HX4O0QE" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
</small>
</p><p>
Citing Russian newspaper
<a href="https://www.novayagazeta.ru/articles/2018/10/31/78412-staya-dlya-kitaya" target="_blank">Novaya Gazetta</a>, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/11/05/russia-investigating-whale-jail-holding-101-captured-orcas-belugas/" target="_blank">The Telegraph</a> reported that the four companies that are renting the enclosures exported 13 orcas to China between 2013 and 2016. The companies allegedly involved were given permission to capture 13 orcas in the wild.
</p><p>
A prosecutor is investigating whether the orcas and belugas were actually captured for scientific or educational purposes. The conditions of their confinement as well as the legality of their holding pens are also being examined, The Telegraph said.
</p><p>
"The holding pens … are not very large—I'd say no more than 30 to 40 feet on a side, and probably only about 10 to 20 feet deep," Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist at the
<a href="https://awionline.org/" target="_blank">Animal Welfare Institute</a>, told <a href="https://www.thedodo.com/in-the-wild/russia-exports-beluga-orca-whales-to-china" target="_blank">The Dodo</a>. "If they stay there through the winter, ice can form on the top of the water and they have to break through to breathe."
</p><p>
<span></span><a href="https://greenpeace.ru/" target="_blank">Greenpeace Russia</a> described the conditions as "torture" and said that capturing the marine mammals could threaten the species' survival.
</p><p>
"Catching them at this tempo, we risk losing our entire orca population," Greenpeace Russia research coordinator Oganes Targulyan said to The Telegraph. "The capture quota now is 13 animals a year, but no one is taking into account that at least one orca is killed for every one that is caught."
</p><p>
The orca population in the nearby Kamchatka region has decreased so drastically that they were listed as
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species">endangered</a> this year.
</p><p>
"The trauma and distress these animals experience during captures is not opinion or emotion—it is fact," Rose added to The Dodo. "They suffer intense stress-related reactions and their mortality risk spikes sharply soon after capture and then again after transport—they don't get accustomed to the process. The decimated pods may experience similar stress and trauma—their offspring are being taken from them."
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="ae9da" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4QUOUI1576662647"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1060177606862082048" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">With only 74 individuals remaining in the wild, time is running out to save Southern Resident orcas, but last week… https://t.co/ulPmTnR9hC</div> — Oceana (@Oceana)<a href="https://twitter.com/oceana/statuses/1060177606862082048">1541601013.0</a></blockquote></div>
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With Only 74 Southern Resident Orcas Left, New Protections Announced For Iconic Killer Whales
01 November 2018
Animals
Southern resident killer whales suffered a significant population decline in the late 1990s and are now listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. NOAA
With only 74 remaining in the wild, time is running out to save southern resident killer whales, especially after two died this summer.
This week, the Canadian government announced a slew of measures to save the critically endangered species. The $61.5 million (US$50 million) initiative will address three key threats to the orcas: a lack of chinook salmon, the whales' favored prey; contaminants in the water; and vessel traffic and noise that interferes with their hunting abilities, according to a news release from the Fisheries and Oceans department.
<p>
The Canadian government is also looking to create new areas of critical habitat off the west coast of Vancouver Island for the killer whales, fisheries minister Jonathan Wilkinson told
<a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4617979/killer-whales-orcas-vancouver-island-sanctuary/" target="_blank">The Canadian Press</a> on Wednesday. The Swiftsure in the Juan de Fuca Strait between Vancouver Island and Washington state, and La Perouse Bank off Tofino will be areas that the marine animals can call home, he said.
</p><p>
"We are in the process of consulting on those new critical habitat areas and expect to be able to move forward on them in the next couple of months," Wilkinson explained. "We are also talking about creation of killer whale sanctuaries, which essentially are within the areas of critical habitat ... which means that we can prohibit a range of different activities, not simply fisheries, where you can regulate that ships cannot go."
</p><p>
These efforts are part of a previously announced $167.4 million
<a href="https://www.tc.gc.ca/en/campaigns/whales-initiative-protecting-southern-residen-killer-whale.html" target="_blank">Whales Initiative</a> to save the southern residents, whose population has dipped to only 74 individuals, down from 98 in 1995.
</p><p>
<span></span>Their plight was underscored this summer when a mother whale Tahlequah, or J35, carried her dead calf for at least seventeen days and 1,000 miles in her heartbreaking "<a href="https://www.whaleresearch.com/j35" target="_blank">tour of grief</a>" this August, according to the <a href="https://www.whaleresearch.com/" target="_blank">Center for Whale Research</a>.
</p><p>
The next month, the ailing J50, another member of Tahlequah's pod, was
<a href="https://www.whaleresearch.com/j50" target="_blank">declared</a> missing and presumed dead after a three-day search in the waters between Washington state and Canada.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="f484e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="NNXZ031576662654"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1041008870548795392" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#Orca Whale #J50 'Missing and Now Presumed Dead' https://t.co/dLEFpXP6hB @NOAA @CWROrcas @oceana</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/1041008870548795392">1537030830.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
Governments in Canada and the U.S. have made efforts to revive the iconic species. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/orcas-gov-orders-protections-2547956591.html" target="_blank">Earlier this year</a>, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed an <a href="https://www.governor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/exe_order/eo_18-02_1.pdf" target="_blank">executive order</a> to aid their recovery and the Chinook salmon they eat.
</p><p>
But will these efforts be enough to save the imperiled orcas? The majority of 74 southern residents left in the wild are not reproducing, meaning the opportunity to have more births than deaths is dwindling, Seattle's
<a href="https://www.king5.com/article/tech/science/environment/74-southern-resident-orcas-remaining-is-a-misleading-tally/281-594497506" target="_blank">King 5</a> reported in September. Only two males are fathering all of the calves and only a few females are reproducing.
</p><p>
"There's only about four females having babies in the last decade," Center for Whale Research founder Ken Balcomb told the news station.
</p><p>
What's more, 75 percent of newborns in the recent two have not survived, and 100 percent of the pregnancies in the past three years have failed to produce viable offspring, the center
<a href="https://www.whaleresearch.com/j35" target="_blank">notes</a>.
</p><p>
"Without reproduction, there is no chance of survival," Balcomb said. "This is what extinction looks like in slow motion."
</p><p><em>Correction: The headline of this article has been updated to provide greater clarity.</em></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="27f43" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="BJP9AT1576662654"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1057323830472048642" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">These whales are suffering a slow-motion #extinction. Learn more on our latest #blog: https://t.co/XTEbf4f5gw… https://t.co/eh5Mc1Wo9Z</div> — Oceana (@Oceana)<a href="https://twitter.com/oceana/statuses/1057323830472048642">1540920619.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p><em><br></em></p>
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Killer whales leap out of the water near Alaska. Robert Pittman / NOAA
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were banned in the U.S. in 1978, but their persistence in the world's oceans is still posing a major threat to killer whales.
A study published in Science Friday found that current concentrations of PCBs could lead to the disappearance of half of the world's killer whale, or orca, populations over the next 30 to 50 years, according to an Aarhus University press release published by ScienceDaily.
<p style="">"It is like a killer whale apocalypse," study author Paul Jepson at the Zoological Society of London told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/27/orca-apocalypse-half-of-killer-whales-doomed-to-die-from-pollution" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p style="">Ten out of the world's 19 killer whale populations were rapidly dwindling, the study found.</p><p style="">PCBs were widely used in electronics and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastics" target="_self">plastics</a> beginning in the 1930s. Countries began to ban them in the 1970s and 1980s, and in 2004 the <a href="http://chm.pops.int/default.aspx" target="_blank">Stockholm Convention</a> came into effect, in which 152 countries promised to phase them out entirely by 2025 and clean up existing waste, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/27/health/orca-killer-whale-pollution-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>.</p><p style="">But the research suggests the convention isn't moving fast enough.</p><p style="">"I think the Stockholm Convention is failing," Jepson told The Guardian. "The only area where I am optimistic is the U.S. They alone produced 50 percent of all PCBs, but they have been getting PCB levels down consistently for decades. All we have done in Europe is ban them and then hope they go away."</p><p style="">Killer whales are especially impacted because they are at the top of the marine food chain, and concentrations of the toxic <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/chemicals" target="_self">chemicals</a> increase as they accumulate in the tissues of larger and larger animals.</p><p style="">Further, killer whales pass PCBs onto their offspring through their milk. </p><p style="">The researchers, from universities and institutions around the world, assessed PCB levels in more than 350 killer whales, the largest number ever studied. They then used models to predict the impacts of PCBs on the mortality rate, fertility rate and immune response of killer whale populations over the next 100 years.</p><p style="">Killer whale populations in highly contaminated areas like Brazil, the Strait of Gibraltar, the northeast Pacific and the UK were especially under threat and had already been reduced by half in the years when PCBs were being used.</p><p style="">"In these areas, we rarely observe newborn killer whales," study participant Ailsa Hall of the Sea Mammal Research Unit at the University of Saint Andrews said in the press release. </p><p style="">Killer whales who fed on larger animals like seals, tuna and sharks were also more impacted than populations that fed on smaller fish like mackerel or herring. </p><p style="">The killer whales off the eastern coast of Greenland, who eat a lot of marine mammals, were also at risk. </p><p style="">The least contaminated populations swim in waters in the far north, off of Norway, Iceland, Canada and the Faroe Islands, and the study's models showed that these populations would continue to grow. </p><p style="">Jepson said that killer whales could return to currently contaminated areas if global cleanup efforts are successful. </p><p style="">"It is an incredibly adaptive species—they have been able to [live] from the Arctic to the Antarctic and everywhere in between," he told The Guardian.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="aa855" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="UR1TTA1576662725"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="859918013755269120" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">'Shocking' Levels of PCBs Found in Beloved Orca https://t.co/bKBpOe7gMt @Greenpeace @World_Wildlife</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/859918013755269120">1493855405.0</a></blockquote></div>
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The ailing orca whale J50 was declared "missing and now presumed dead" by the Center for Whale Research Thursday, after a three-day search by the organization in the waters between Washington state and Canada failed to locate her.
She would be the third Southern Resident killer whale to die since June, bringing their numbers down to 74.
<p style="">J50 belonged to the same pod of Southern Resident killer <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/whales">whales</a> as J35, the mother who captured international sympathy by <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/orca-mother-calf-mourning-2594507257.html" target="_self">carrying her dead calf</a> for 17 days last month. </p><p style="">"Watching J50 during the past three months is what extinction looks like when survival is threatened for all by food deprivation and lack of reproduction," Center for Whale Research Founding Director Ken Balcomb wrote in a press release. "Not only are the Southern Resident killer whales dying and unable to reproduce sufficiently, but also their scarce presence in the Salish Sea is an indication that adequate food is no longer available for them here, or along the coast."</p><p style="">J50 had been growing weaker since 2017, and the <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/" target="_blank">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</a> (NOAA) had decided this week to take her into captivity in order to treat and potentially rehabilitate her, <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/orca-j50-declared-dead-after-search-southern-residents-down-to-74-whales/" target="_blank">The Seattle Times reported</a>. </p><p style="">But a massive search Thursday conducted by NOAA, the <a href="http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/protected_species/marine_mammals/stranding_network.html" target="_blank">West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network</a>, <a href="https://whalemuseum.org/pages/soundwatch-boater-education-program" target="_blank">Soundwatch</a>, whale-watching boats and a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter in Washington and the Marine Mammal Rescue vessel, the M Charles midwater patrol vessel, the <a href="http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/index-eng.htm" target="_blank">Department of Fisheries and Oceans</a>, <a href="https://www.cetussociety.org/straitwatch" target="_blank">Straitwatch</a> and a Coast Guard helicopter in Canada did not result in any sightings.</p><p style="">She was last seen one week ago, Sept. 7, and was absent from a gathering of around 60 whales from her own J pod, as well as K and L pods, on Thursday. </p><p style="">NOAA spokesperson Michael Milstein told The Seattle Times his agency had not given up entirely, despite Thursday's declaration. </p><p style="">"We have had a huge amount of help today, and it is really important that if she is there that we find her," Milstein told The Seattle Times. "We certainly have not determined at this point that we are giving up. And we are determining that day by day, we are not setting a timeline."</p><p style="">The capture effort was the last in a series of increasingly dramatic attempts to save J50, who had gotten so emaciated that she had trouble swimming and keeping her head above water.</p><p style="">Veterinarians and biologists in the U.S. and Canada working with NOAA sampled her breath, injected her with antibiotics and fed her Chinook <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/salmon" target="_self">salmon</a> off the back of a boat. </p><p style=""><a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_blank">Wildlife</a> advocates emphasized the importance of restoring the population of Chinook salmon, the orcas' primary food-source, in the Salish Sea. </p><p style="">'It is a heartbreaking reminder that we cannot save these whales on a case-by-case individual basis. What J50 needed, and what her family continues to need, is healthy and abundant Chinook salmon, which these orcas depend upon for survival," <a href="https://defenders.org/" target="_blank">Defenders of Wildlife</a> Northwest Representative Robb Krehbiel said in a <a href="https://newsroom.defenders.org/death-of-third-southern-resident-orca/" target="_blank">statement</a>. "If we are unable to restore the salmon that these orcas need, more whales will starve to death."</p><p style="">The Center for Whale Research agreed with this diagnosis. </p><p style="">It called for the restoration of the natural Chinook salmon runs throughout their historic range and recommended the breaching of the Lower Snake River <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/dams" target="_self">Dams</a> in Washington, which the center said kill millions of salmon.</p>Salmon populations in Canada's Fraser River have been harmed by <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/overfishing" target="_self">overfishing</a> and pollution from mining, chemical spills and industrial and agricultural development, the Center for Whale Research said.<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="5bc99" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="LJR76K1576663798"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1009207419325505538" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Orca Whale 'Crewser' Presumed Dead as Population Reaches Its Lowest Point Since 1984 https://t.co/DnswjvwhXG… https://t.co/1apBKA0gF5</div> — Sea Shepherd SSCS (@Sea Shepherd SSCS)<a href="https://twitter.com/SeaShepherdSSCS/statuses/1009207419325505538">1529448773.0</a></blockquote></div>
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Tahlequah or J35, has carried her dead calf for 17 days as of Thursday. Center for Whale Research
Tahlequah—a southern resident killer whale whose heartbreaking story has captured attention around the world—has been carrying her dead calf for more than two weeks now.
Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research told The Seattle Times that the mother orca has pushed the carcass for a 17th straight day for more than 1,000 miles as of Thursday.
<p>
But Balcomb said Tahlequah might drop the calf soon because its body is starting to deteriorate. A <a href="https://whnt.com/2018/08/09/orca-mother-carries-dead-calf-for-17th-day-as-it-starts-to-come-apart/" target="_blank">recent image</a> shows that its intestine and blubber has been exposed.</p><p>
The baby whale was born near Victoria, British Columbia on July 24 and was seen alive and swimming with its mother, referred by scientists as J35, and other members of its "J" pod. The newborn died half an hour after its birth.
</p><p>
It's not unusual for orcas to carry their dead offspring for about a day or so, but this is likely the longest period researchers have observed.
</p><p>
<span></span>"I certainly think the length of the situation is unprecedented," Sheila Thornton, lead killer-whale scientist for Fisheries and Oceans Canada said to The Times. "There are many species who do undertake this sort of behavior if a young animal has failed to survive, they will carry the carcass, you can look at that as mourning behavior."
</p><p>
Deborah Giles, research scientist for University of Washington Center for Conservation Biology and research director for nonprofit Wild Orca told
<a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/i-am-sobbing-mother-orca-still-carrying-her-dead-calf-16-days-later/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=article_title_1.1" target="_blank">The Times</a> on Wednesday she is "gravely concerned for the health and mental well being of J35."<span></span>
</p><p>
"Even if her family is foraging for and sharing fish with her, J35 cannot be getting the … nutrition she needs to regain any body-mass loss that would have naturally occurred during the gestation of her fetus and also additional loss of nutrition during these weeks of mourning," Giles added.
</p><p>
<span></span>Scientists have also raised flags about a 3-year-old orca called Scarlet, also known as J50, who is part of the same pod as Tahlequah.
</p><p>
"J50 appears lethargic at times with periods of activity, including feeding. Scientists observing her agree that she is in poor condition and may not survive," according to
<a href="http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/protected_species/marine_mammals/killer_whale/updates-j50-j35.html" target="_blank">NOAA Fisheries</a>.
</p><p>
Government officials and other experts are exploring options to aid Scarlet, ranging from no intervention to providing medical treatment, potentially delivered in a live
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/salmon-chinook-sierra-2507519718.html" target="_blank">Chinook salmon</a>, their favored prey.
</p><p>
The stories of the ailing whales have highlighted the plight of the critically
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_blank">endangered species</a> and have renewed efforts to save them. The current population of southern resident killer whales has dipped to only 75 individuals.
</p><p>
<span></span>"The recent, tragic death of the orca calf is heartbreaking and we all feel the pain of the mother and her pod," Washington Gov. Jay Inslee <a href="https://twitter.com/GovInslee/status/1025139397782466560" target="_blank">tweeted</a> last week. "Protecting and restoring the complex ecosystem these beautiful animals rely on will take a lot of work. There are no do-overs with the orcas. We must get this right."
</p><p>
<span></span>Their decline has been attributed to pollution, underwater noise and disturbances from boat traffic, and lack of Chinook salmon. Recent deaths, particularly <a href="http://www.washington.edu/news/2017/06/29/study-shows-high-pregnancy-failure-in-southern-resident-killer-whales-links-to-nutritional-stress-and-low-salmon-abundance/" target="_blank">among calves, mothers and pregnant whales</a>, appear to be driven by food scarcity, the Center for Whale Research <a href="https://www.whaleresearch.com/j52" target="_blank">says</a>.
</p><p>
Members of Inslee's task force met Tuesday to discuss the emergency situation and how to improve the orcas' health and numbers. The task force will issue a comprehensive report and recommendations for recovering the species, with a full draft due by Oct. 1 and a final report the following month.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="73c12" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="G2B47W1576662722"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1008748067099684865" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Orca Whale 'Crewser' Presumed Dead as Population Reaches Its Lowest Point since 1984 https://t.co/dOsGudmYW4… https://t.co/jxiN1Dl6tw</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/1008748067099684865">1529339255.0</a></blockquote></div>
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