Tag Archives: Southern Resident Killer Whales

Rivers & Oceans

West Coast toxic hot spots threaten endangered salmon and killer whales

Editor’s note: Though Cortes Island is not mentioned in the following report, it is on the embedded map of metal hotspots. We appear to be either bordering on, or close to, the areas for cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni) copper (Cu) and lead (Pb).

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Newly identified toxic metal hot spots on the West Coast further threaten endangered killer whales and their key food source, a recent study shows.

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Rivers & Oceans

West Coast engineers aim to clear up acoustic smog impacting endangered killer whales

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Editor’s note: In addition to being marine tourist destinations close to a principal British Columbian shipping lane, Cortes, Quadra and Read Islands are visited by both the northern and southern pods of Killer Whales

University of British Columbia engineers are working to help clear up the acoustic smog that hinders endangered orcas’ ability to gather information vital to their survival. 

Chronic underwater noise from shipping can drown out sounds marine mammals — such as the southern resident killer whales — use and rely on to communicate with each other, navigate, avoid danger or locate their prey. 

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Cost of Climate Change, Energy

B.C. will soon decide the fate of four projects with big climate and biodiversity impacts

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

B.C. Premier David Eby’s newly appointed cabinet is about to decide the fate of a handful of proposed projects,  each of which comes with a slew of implications to biodiversity and  climate. 

While provincial ministers wrestle with the decisions, delegates from across the country and around the world are gathered at COP15,  the United Nations biodiversity conference in Montreal. The aim of the  conference is to secure government commitments to slow the global  biodiversity crisis underway — the crisis is sometimes referred to as  the sixth mass extinction and is the first to be human-caused.

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Rivers & Oceans

Southern Resident Killer Whales are not getting enough to eat, study says

A new UBC study found that the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale population isn’t getting enough to eat.

As lead author Fanny Couture explained, “The study goes from 1979 to 2020. We were trying to understand whether the Southern Resident Killer Whale population had enough food to eat to sustain their energy needs. So a human needs 2,000 calories a day, a killer whale will need about 170,000 calories a day. What we found is that they were in energy deficits for six of the last 40 years. Some of them are spread out throughout the study period, but three of the last years (in the study), 2018 to 2020, they were in full energy deficits. They did not have enough food in the spring, the summer and the fall.”

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Rivers & Oceans

Powell River’s Big 3 fish debates

qathet Living, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Sitting outside Powell River Outdoors, owner Sam Sansalone fiddles with a fish hook on the picnic table.

“Look out on the water, and tell me how many boats you see,” Sam says. 

On a bright sunny day with calm water, there was a single sailboat that could be seen on the Salish Sea. 

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