Southern resident killer whales make first major appearance in Salish Sea after 109 days
Southern resident killer whales made a splash off the coast of B.C. in the Haro Strait on Tuesday evening. It was the first major sighting of the endangered orcas in quite some time.
"A pretty amazing moment actually, because the fog had really moved in, in the late afternoon, and we started hearing vocalizations of the killer whales over the Lime Kiln Hydrophone," said Monika Shields, director of the Orca Behavior Institute.
"And shortly after that the fog cleared right as the whales were coming across the strait, so it was a beautiful evening to see them from San Juan Island," she said.
According to Shields, orcas from all three of the southern resident killer whale pods were in attendance.
"We saw a big portion of K-Pod, about half of L-Pod and at least one family group from J-Pod," said Shields.
Since the 1970’s researchers have considered the inland waters off Vancouver Island as the southern resident’s core summer habitat, from April to September. However, this year the orcas have been mostly absent from the Salish Sea.
Before Tuesday, it had been more than 100 days since anyone saw J-Pod in the Salish Sea, and L-Pod had not been spotted since February.
According to the Orca Behaviour Institute, their absence is connected to a dwindling food supply.
"It’s definitely sounding the alarm bells as to what’s happening with those Fraser River salmon runs that they depend on," said Shields.
"This area is of big cultural importance to the whales as well. This is where they would all come together as an entire community, and it’s probably when a lot of the breeding would happen," she said.
While there is concern over food supply, researchers are feeling optimistic about one of the whales in particular.
"We did see the youngest member of the southern resident population, the newest calf, L-125, who was just born earlier this year," said Shields.
"It was really exciting to see that little one, and it looked to be doing quite well."
But, as quickly as they appeared, the southern resident killer whales seemingly vanished once again.
As of mid-day Wednesday, there have been no further sightings reported.
"The thought is that maybe they turned around and just went right back west again," said Shields. "We’ll see if there are any reports that come in today, but it may have been a very short visit."
Now, the Orca Behavior Institute will begin to increase its monitoring of the orcas to try and determine where they are going and what they are eating. Shields says they will also monitor the killer whales’ physical form to find out if they are getting enough to eat.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Winning $70 million Lotto Max ticket sold in Toronto
A winning Lotto Max ticket was sold in Toronto from last nights draw.
They were from different countries and barely spoke each other's languages. More than 20 years later, they're still happily in love
He decided to spend Christmas somewhere that wouldn't involve snowstorm disasters. She was spending the holidays with family, travelling for the first time outside of her native country of Venezuela. 23 years later, they're still in love.
Man who set himself on fire outside Trump trial dies of injuries, police say
A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former U.S. President Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said.
What's a Barnacle? It's yellow, sticks and screams if you try to pry it off your car
Barnacles, bright yellow devices used to make sure parking scofflaws pay their tickets, could soon be making their way to cities across Canada.
Verdun Airbnb listing taken down amid complaints, fines and frustration from neighbours
An Airbnb in Montreal's Verdun borough was the source of much frustration from neighbours who say there were constant parties at the location. It has been taken down from the app, but housing advocates remain upset about short-term rentals.
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
Moscow says 50 Ukrainian drones shot down as attacks spark fires at Russian power stations
Ukraine launched a barrage of drones across Russia overnight, the Defence Ministry in Moscow said Saturday, in attacks that appeared to target the country's energy infrastructure.
A Nigerian chess champion plays the royal game for 60 hours - a new global chess record
A Nigerian chess champion and child education advocate played chess nonstop for 60 hours in New York City's Times Square to break the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon.
Fire in Labrador town under control, officials tells residents to stay away
RCMP say the fire that prompted a state of emergency in a Labrador town is now under control.