June in the Salish Sea is usually bustling with marine life – with humpbacks and orcas sighted on the daily. But some familiar faces are missing among the crowd – the endangered southern resident killer whales (SRKWs).
Raising the alarm is Seattle-based organization Orca Conservancy, who say historically at this time of year the group of whales would normally return to the area following the summer chinook salmon runs, frequenting the northern Salish Sea – from Haro Strait to the mouth of the Fraser River.
“While sightings have declined over the years alongside Fraser River salmon runs, we still expect to see SRKWs in the Salish Sea in June, making their absence this year striking,” said a social media post by the organization.
Comprising three families – J, L and K pods – the last population count in 2024 said there are 73 SKRWs, a drop from 2023’s count of 75. According to the Centre for Whale Research’s website, their last southern resident encounter was with J pod April 23 around Haro Strait and Boundary Pass.
One possible reason for their absence may be connected to the record-breaking heatwave that hit B.C.'s South Coast in June 2021, suggests Orca Conservancy.
Extreme air temperatures, elevated river and stream temperatures and severely low stream flows due to early and rapid snowpack melt and drought, all caused by the heat dome event, created “catastrophic” conditions for cold-water fish.
Particularly chinook salmon – the primary food source of SRKWs – and sockeye salmon.
High river temperatures killed many spawning adults, explains the organization, while those who did spawn produced fewer surviving young due to warm, low rivers that stressed eggs, fry, and out-migrating juveniles.
As most Pacific salmon species, including chinook, follow a four- or five-year lifecycle, the salmon returning in 2025 are likely to have been born during the extreme heatwave of 2021.
“Although full chinook return counts for 2025 aren’t yet available, the lasting effects of the 2021 heatwave are expected to show in the data, with disrupted salmon survival likely contributing to the whales’ continued absence from the Salish Sea.”
Due to the chinook shortage, the organization thinks the whales may be ranging farther or arriving later than expected.
Executive director for Orca Conservancy Shari Tarantino thinks they might be “playing smart” and conserving energy in waters just under 25 kilometres from the west coast of Vancouver Island at Swiftsure Bank – a marine sanctuary at the entrance to the Juan de Fuca Strait.
“They might be there intercepting the salmon on their way to the Fraser River,” she said hopefully.
Also concerning is a recent report by research organization SR3, which noted a continued declining trend in body condition, with almost one-third of the southern resident population in poor body condition.
“We’re deeply concerned that the lingering effects of the 2021 heatwave, combined with other human-caused stressors, will continue to exacerbate this decline,” said Orca Conservancy’s post.
For Tarantino, the report and the whales' absence from the Salish Sea are a stark reminder of the plight facing the iconic endangered species.
Although there have been some glimmers of hope, with several calves born in recent months – including a much-needed female calf, known as J62 – Tarantino says the lack of food not only impacts the general population, it also affects a mother's ability to raise a healthy calf.
"Which is why babies aren't surviving," she said. “All the southern residents are at the dinner table, but they’re sitting at the wrong end – they’re just getting all the scraps."
For more information about Orca Conservancy and how to support their initiatives, visit: www.orcaconservancy.org.
