Thoughts on Endangered Orcas: The Story of the Southern Residents

Some 20 years ago, I took a few whale watching tours with the Mosquito Fleet out of Everett (a perk provided by my hyper-local workplace). These tours were long, at times dull, journeys across grey waters, but on one occasion, we saw a super pod of orca. That fantastic experience made the trip.

Unlike Monika Wieland Shields, the author of Endangered Orcas: The Story of the Southern Residents, and the people she writes about, I did not, after my whale experience, devote myself to whales and research. I went on about my life ashore and, largely, forgot them.

I read reporting by Lynda V. Mapes of The Seattle Times about the orcas, watched Blackfish, and heard calls for Lower Snake River dam removal, but I was not attentive.

This year, I read Flash County Diary and went to see author Darcey Steinke speak at Town Hall Seattle alongside marine biologist Dr. Deborah Giles. The topic: menopause and whales! It caught my attention. Coincidentally, weeks later, I went on a kayaking trip to Friday Harbor, San Juan Island (we did not see whales, there were few whales around to be seen this summer) and visited whale-watching site Lime Kiln Point State Park (and overheard an interview about whale conservation). I learned that this summer, J Pod, the Southern Residents, had not been spotted as usual around the San Juan Islands and no super pods had been seen for some time.

Now, I was listening.

While there, I picked up a copy of Weiland Shields' Endangered Orcas: The Story of the Southern Residents. It seems essential reading.

Shouldn't anyone who lives by the Salish Sea be conscious of our ecosystem?

Endangered Orcas provides a detailed and at times technical account of whale research and the community of people interested in the lives of the Southern Resident orcas. While not always a breezy read, it also includes stories of the residents and fascinating information. I loved reading about whale culture and about dogs who help with whale research by tracking scat on the sea. The University of Washington's Conservation Canines program also caught my attention at Giles' talk.

Endangered Orcas pulls us into the lives of this endangered species (and how our lives have connected and are intertwined). Humans have captured, killed, observed, studied, and named each of them. We have polluted their environment with noise and toxins. Ultimately, we are starving them by damming rivers which have served as key Chinook salmon runs.

Wieland Shields writes: "The lack of salmon is undoubtedly the biggest risk factor facing the Southern Residents, exacerbated by vessel threats and toxins." and  "Cumulatively, what the science has shown is undeniable: lack of prey is the biggest hurdle in the way of recovery in the Southern Resident killer whales."

The Southern Residents eat primarily Chinook salmon as well as Coho and chum.

Recently, The Seattle Times won an Online Journalism Award for its reporting: Hostile Waters: Orcas in Peril. Recently, J and K pods returned to the waters around Whidbey Island with their new baby (Southern resident orcas, including newest baby, visit Puget Sound, Sept. 19, 2019. Lynda V. Mapes, The Seattle Times).

I'm following the Orca Network, The Center for Whale Research, The Whale Sanctuary Project, and the Orca Behavior Institute, and thinking about whales.