July 11, 2018 — The Southern Resident orca pods are in a tough spot — literally.
Their primary food source is dying off; the Trans Mountain Pipeline is expanding, which will increase the number of tankers trucking through the orcas’ habitat by seven times, among other exposure risks like noise and spills.
And now comes the latest spot of bad news: For the last three years not one calf has been born to the shrinking pods of the black-and-white killer whales in the Pacific Northwest, resulting in a 30-year low in orca population.
The annual census of Puget Sound’s resident orcas found that just 75 killer whales, across the three Southern Resident pods (J, K, and L), are still swimming through the Pacific Northwest waters. The J pod has 23 members, while K has 18, and L has 34.
In addition to finding no new births of Southern Residents, the census reported two missing and presumed dead members, 23-year-old Crewser (also known as L-92), and a 2-year-old calf named Sonic (J-52).