Wild Salmon & Steelhead News is published monthly by the Save Our wild Salmon Coalition. Read on to learn about the Columbia-Snake River Basin’s endangered wild salmon and steelhead, the many benefits they deliver to people and ecosystems, and the extinction crisis they face today - unless we act! Find out how SOS is helping lead efforts to restore health, connectivity, and resilience to the rivers and streams these fish depend upon in the Columbia-Snake Basin and how you can get involved to help restore healthy, abundant, and harvestable populations and sustain more just and prosperous communities. To learn more and/or get involved, contact Martha Campos.
1. A dedication to the Southern Resident orcas.
2. Take Action: Urge Governor Ferguson to protect salmon and orcas!
3. Send love to Tahlequah: Call for art.
4. Did you know…Southern Resident orca facts!
5. Critically endangered Southern Resident orcas need more chinook salmon.
6. Watch 'All Our Relations: Tribute to the Orca' short film.
7. Orca and Salmon media roundup.
1. A dedication to the Southern Resident orcas.
Into the Stars © Anastasia Seckers
The new year brought heartbreaking news about the Southern Resident orcas. On December 20, 2024, Tahlequah, J35, was spotted with her newly-born female calf, J61, but just over a week later, the calf passed away on December 31, 2024. With her extended family by her side, Tahlequah then sacrificed precious energy reserves to carry her calf in a tragic and public display of grief. On January 10, the Center of Whale Research witnessed Tahlequah still carrying her calf. Scientists are concerned about Tahlequah’s wellbeing as she looks noticeably thin. Despite her condition and the turbulent seas, she was determined not to let her calf sink.
This isn’t the first time Tahlequah carried her deceased calf. In the summer of 2018, Tahlequah gave birth to a female calf that died shortly after birth. Tahlequah carried the dead calf for a total of 17 days and over 1,000 miles in what was internationally recognized as the “Tour of Grief.” A week after the calf’s death, Tahlequah’s family members began taking turns carrying the dead calf to allow her to rest.
Tahlequah’s outward expression of grief—and the plight of the Southern Resident orcas—is once again visible to all. A main driver of their high mortality rate is the lack of their main prey, chinook salmon. With just 73 individual whales remaining in their population, Southern Resident orcas are being pushed toward extinction.
With the arrival of another calf, J62 (discovered on December 30, 2024, and calf of J41 Eclipse), we must do all we can to ensure that J62 and all the Southern Residents can live freely in healthy waters - and with abundant salmon to eat.
SOS dedicates our first newsletter of 2025 to Tahlequah, her calf, and all the Southern Residents who are struggling every day for survival - and require our immediate attention and action. Read on to learn more about the Southern Residents and their inextricable connection to Columbia-Snake River Basin salmon, and ways you can take action and send Tahlequah love through art and prose.
To close this dedication, we share a poem with you from the I Sing the Salmon Home anthology, edited by Rena Priest and published by Empty Bowl Press. “Sometimes, I Tell the Universe” by Ronda Piszk Broatch, touched our hearts and gave us strength as we continue working together in the new year towards a future with a balanced web of life, healthy rivers, oceans, and lands, for present and future generations to enjoy. We look forward to collaborating with you this year to advance our shared goals and values. Thank you as ever for your support and advocacy.
Sometimes, I Tell the Universe
By Ronda Piszk Broatch
This is how events will unfold: the eagle
will catch the salmon, or the salmon will live another day
nearer to spawning, evolve as sustenance
for resident orcas who are diminishing
in astonishing numbers. Sometimes I tell the Universe
that I, being a part of every living thing,
declare an equal say,
and that I say no, I will not succumb
to exploitation, become a statistic
on the planet's list of casualties,
not lose my life my dears my loves
to extinction or the mutterings of deniers, that hope
is a choice I make, that somehow—and by this I mean
I will it so—the waters will cool a little, the salmon will
thread their way, creating redds in all the rivers, orca young
grow to mate to flourish to teach us their wisdom
before time stretches its elastic to exhaustion.
Sometimes rise doesn't have to mean
sea level, but rather rebellion and compassion, mean
stitching rescue to our breast pockets, weaving time
into lifelines to each wild and fragile body.
Ronda Piszk Broatch is the author of Lake of Fallen Constellations (MoonPath Press, 2015) and Chaos Theory for Beginners (MoonPath Press, 2023). She is the recipient of an Artist Trust GAP grant. Ronda's journal publications include Fugue, Blackbird, 2River, Sycamore Review, The Missouri Review, Palette Poetry, and NPR News/KUOWs All Things Considered. She is a graduate student working toward her MFA at Pacific Lutheran University's Rainier Writing Workshop. Ronda lives in Kingston, situated on Suquamish and Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribal land.
2. Take Action: Urge Governor Ferguson to protect salmon and orcas!
Washington Residents: Contact Governor Bob Ferguson urging him to act now for salmon and orca!
Twice now, Tahlequah has shared her grief with us, and her message is clear: We must act, before it’s too late.
More than ever, we need Washington State to continue to be a leader for salmon and orca recovery in the Columbia Basin and across the state. Restoring a healthy lower Snake River is both an unprecedented opportunity and a centerpiece action needed to restore salmon runs that are critical to the survival of the Southern Residents and our region’s way of life.
We urge Governor Ferguson to:
- Prioritize lower Snake River dam service replacement projects
- Fund and advance salmon recovery projects
- Defend federal commitments made to Tribes, and
- Support the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative.
These actions are key parts of a larger regional salmon recovery strategy we need to restore abundant salmon populations, support imperiled Southern Resident orcas, and ensure thriving communities, economies, and ecosystems in Washington State and beyond for generations to come.
Act Now: Contact Governor Ferguson today
3. Send love to Tahlequah: Call for art.
Tahlequah's Respair J35 and J57 © Britt Freda
Northwest Artists Against Extinction (NWAAE, a project of SOS) is looking for visual art, poetry, and/or short prose created to honor Tahlequah, J35, in her second known tour of grief over the loss of her calves, (calf born in 2018 and J61, 2024) and to support art and advocacy for Southern Resident orcas, salmon, and a free-flowing Snake River. Your artwork and/or prose will be shared with elected officials, and advocates and amplified through NWAAE and SOS projects.
Artwork entries are accepted through February 14, 2025. Questions? Contact Britt Freda, NWAAE’s Creative Director: britt@nwaae.org
4. Did you know…Southern Resident orca facts!
New Life Brings Hope © Lisa Allison Blohm
Get to know the Southern Resident orcas with these facts!
- The three Southern Resident orca pods, known as J, K, and L pods, are a genetically and culturally distinct population unlike other orca communities found within the Pacific Northwest. Southern Residents communicate using their own exclusive dialect, typically traveling in large, extended family groups led by matriarchs, and stay in these extended family groups their entire lives.
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Female Southern Residents are the leaders in their family! Within each pod, there are separate family sub-groups or matrilines that are centered around the older females (grandmothers and mothers). Each matriline is identified by the eldest female within the group. In most cases, both males and females will spend the entirety of their lives with their mother (and maternal grandmother if she is still alive). Learn more about matrilines from SOS coalition member, Orca Conservancy.
- Southern Resident orcas co-evolved with salmon and have fed on an abundance of large, fatty chinook salmon throughout the Salish Sea and West Coast. An adult orca needs an estimated 200-385 lbs of fish daily.
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Southern Residents are listed as endangered in both the U.S. (listed in 2005) and Canada (listed in 2003). The current Southern Resident population count in each pod is J Pod=25, K Pod=15, L Pod=33. Only 73 individual Southern Residents survive today, with a dwindling number of reproductive age females — only 28 at last count, as well as only 4 breeding orca males of an older age. Even though there are other males of breeding age, female orcas regularly select older males to mate with. Learn more from Wild Orca, SOS coalition member, here.
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Scientists tell us the top reasons for their precipitous decline are the lack of their main prey, chinook salmon, as well as noise disturbance from boats that make it hard for the orcas to hunt, and chemical pollutants that accumulate in their tissues. As a result of these threats, the calves especially struggle to survive.
- Orcas need food year-round, especially in the winter months. The Columbia-Snake River Basin has historically provided the Southern Residents with an abundant Spring Chinook salmon, an essential food source during the lean months of winter and early spring. The Columbia and Snake rivers produced roughly 90 percent of all the Spring Chinook on the West Coast. The orcas remember their traditional forging ground and annually gather at the mouth of the Columbia River from January - April to eat Spring Chinook before the salmon head upstream in search of their spawning gravels.
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Snake River Spring/Summer Chinook, Snake River Fall Chinook, and other Columbia-Basin salmon runs are ranked in the top 10 priority chinook stocks to recover healthy Southern Residents. Learn more about orca’s primary food source below in article 5.
- Female orcas have a high rate of pregnancy loss. A study from the University of Washington’s Research Professor, Dr. Wasser, and co-authored by Wild Orca’s Science and Research Director, Dr. Giles, found 69% of pregnant Southern Resident orcas did not carry their calf to term, leading to miscarriage or their calves are born and die soon after. The paper concludes orcas need an abundant and consistent supply of salmon to eat, so they can carry more pregnancies to term, and calves would stand a better chance of surviving.
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In 2018, former Washington Governor Inslee created the Southern Resident Killer Whale Task Force to develop recommendations – actions that we can take – to recover orcas. As Tahlequah carried her first deceased calf in 2018, advocates called Governor Inslee to revise the initial recommendations to recognize the importance of restoring the lower Snake River. Governor Inslee heard the call from advocates and included this recommendation as a priority to protect orca and salmon from extinction. Now, Governor Ferguson must continue this important progress.
Learn more about Southern Resident orcas from our good friends at:
- Center of Whale Research
- Wild Orca
- Orca Conservancy
- Orca Network
- Orca Behavior Institute
- SeaDoc Society
- SR³ - Sealife Response, Rehabilitation & Research
5. Critically endangered Southern Resident orcas need more chinook salmon.
Subtle Ecosystems © Jillian Kelly
Highly social and intelligent Southern Resident orcas have roamed the coastal waters of the Pacific Northwest and have held cultural and spiritual significance for Northwest Tribes since time immemorial. The three Southern Resident orca pods – J, K, and L– have co-evolved over millennia with their preferred prey, chinook salmon.
Scientists tell us the top reasons for the Southern Resident’s precipitous decline are the lack of chinook salmon, as well as noise disturbance from boats that makes it hard for the orcas to hunt, and chemical pollutants that accumulate in their tissues. As a result of these intersecting threats, female orcas have immense difficulty carrying pregnancies to term and calves especially struggle to survive. With just 73 individual whales remaining in the coastal waters of the Northwest, Southern Resident orcas are being pushed toward extinction.
Columbia-Snake River Basin salmon are critically important to the diet of Southern Resident orcas
The Columbia-Snake River Basin and the Fraser River are the two most important sources of salmon for these orcas, with chinook salmon accounting for roughly 80% of the Southern Residents’ diet. One of the largest historical sources of these salmon is the Snake River, with Spring/Summer Chinook salmon being especially valuable at a lean time of the year – winter – when other salmon are not migrating. Snake River Spring/Summer Chinook are particularly important due to their large size and high fat content, making them critical food for Southern Residents.
In a 2008 Recovery Plan for Southern Resident Killer Whales, NOAA Fisheries stated, “Perhaps the single greatest change in food availability for resident killer whales since the late 1800s has been the decline of salmon in the Columbia River basin. Estimates of pre-development run size vary from 10-16 million fish and 7-30 million fish, with Chinook salmon being the predominant species present. Returns during the 1990s averaged only 1.1 million salmon, representing a decline of 90 percent or more from historical levels.”1 NOAA Fisheries and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) issued a report identifying Snake River Spring/Summer Chinook, Snake River Fall Chinook, and other Columbia Basin Chinook runs in the top 10 priority chinook stocks to recover Southern Resident orcas and required priority actions to increase salmon abundance. However, four dams on the lower Snake River block salmon migration, and all of the remaining Snake River salmon and steelhead populations face extinction today.
Chinook salmon returns have declined and remained far below the recovery goals necessary to sustain them over time, but the salmon themselves are also shrinking in size and weight. Orcas are struggling to meet their caloric needs to survive. Dr. Giles, Science & Research Director at Wild Orca, stated, “If they are having to forage for eight-pound salmon to make their basic daily caloric needs of several hundreds of pounds of food per day, per [orca], that is not good news. That means they are having to forage a lot more for less quality fish just to meet their basic metabolic needs.”
Drone research from SR3 has shown that Southern Residents are sometimes visibly thin, and a study from the UW Conservation Canine program discovered a 69% miscarriage rate primarily due to lack of food. Data from the Center for Whale Research has shown that Southern Resident survival and mortality is correlated with coast-wide chinook salmon population levels.
Despite decades of effort to restore Southern Residents and salmon abundance, both teeter on the brink of extinction. As fewer salmon return to the ocean, these iconic orcas go hungry, and their population continues to shrink.
Hope for Southern Residents informed by Bigg’s orcas' recovery journey
The Southern Resident orcas and Bigg’s orcas frequent the same waters in the Salish Sea and along the Pacific Coast. They are considered the same species but different ecotypes, meaning they are two distinct types of orcas that differ in size, appearance, pod structure, diet, behavior, culture, acoustics, and genetics.1,2
As much as they are different, Bigg’s orcas and Southern Residents encounter many of the same threats, including pollution, noise, and disturbances, and both have a history of being captured for display, all of which have impacted their population. However, Bigg’s orca population is increasing despite these threats. Why? Because of the difference in their diets.
Bigg’s primarily eat mammals such as sea lions and seals, which are abundant in coastal waters today, whereas Southern Residents rely on chinook salmon, an extremely scarce food source. The abundance of available prey has allowed Bigg’s orcas to grow in numbers despite the various challenges, while the Southern Resident population is declining. Research conducted by Orca Behavior Institute shows abundant food sources are key to healthy orca populations. With enough food, orcas are able to overcome threats and recover.
Since the decline of chinook salmon, each of the Southern Resident pods have shifted their presence along their historical foraging range based on chinook salmon runs.3 According to Orca Behavior Institute data with reports from Pacific Whale Watch Association, Orca Network, and other sighting groups and community scientists, there was a 24% decline in Southern Resident sightings in the Salish Sea in 2023 compared to 2022.
For the Southern Residents, the lack of salmon is by far the single greatest threat to their survival. For example, in the context of encountering pollution, when Southern Residents are not getting enough to eat, they are more susceptible to metabolizing their fat stores, which releases pollutants that circulate through their body and compromise their immune system.4 All of which makes it harder for the orcas to forage for food.
In contrast, Bigg's orcas absorb more toxins because their food sources (seals and seal lions) are higher in the food web. The abundance in their food sources prevents them from needing to metabolize their fat stores. Bigg’s population size continues to double due to sufficient food and has been increasingly present in the Salish Sea over the last 30 years.
Contrasting Bigg’s and Southern Resident orcas shows that when we restore chinook salmon, Southern Residents can live healthier and longer lives.
Restoring a free-flowing lower Snake River to recover Southern Resident orcas and salmon
Scientists have identified Snake River Spring/Summer Chinook as among the priority salmon that Southern Residents need to survive and thrive. It is critical for Southern Residents to feed on salmon throughout their entire foraging range and also throughout the entire year, especially in the winter and early spring when orcas move toward the mouth of the Columbia Basin.
Key actions to help achieve abundant salmon and orca populations include removing the four lower Snake River dams to restore crucial salmon runs, restoring salmon habitats across the Columbia-Snake River Basin, and protecting marine habitats to reduce other threats to Southern Residents and their ability to reproduce.
References:
1. National Marine Fisheries Service (2008) Recovery Plan for Southern Resident Killer Whales (Orcinus orca). National Marine Fisheries Service, Northwest Region, Seattle, Washington. At: II-82.
2. Whale and Dolphin Conservation: Meet the different types of orcas
3. Orca Conservancy: The killer whales of the Pacific Northwest
4. Shields MW. 2023. 2018–2022 Southern Resident killer whale presence in the Salish Sea: continued shifts in habitat usage. PeerJ 11:e15635
5. Wild Orca (2022) Hot Water Report: Interview with Dr. Deborah Giles - Science and Research Director at Wild Orca
6. Watch 'All Our Relations: Tribute to the Orca' short film.
All Our Relations: Tribute to the Orca, a short film, highlights the powerful voices of regional Indigenous leaders speaking on their communities' ancient kinship with orcas and salmon, and the importance of reciprocity in our relationship with our caretaker: Mother Nature. The film provides a special focus on the Southern Resident orcas whose survival, like the survival of Indigenous lifeways here in the Pacific Northwest, depends on scha’enexw (the Salmon People).
Jay Julius, Se’Si’Le co-founder and president, who spoke at the 2024 All Our Relations: Tribute to the Orca event, introduces the film in this way:
“Ey’skweyel e ne schaleche si’am,
My name is W’tot lhem (Jay Julius). I am a Lummi Indian, a fisherman, a father, and, like all my people, a relative of Sk’aliCh’elh (the Southern Resident Killer Whales). This film is based on a gathering where Indigenous voices honored an obligation to our endangered relatives.
We ask, ‘Who has the moral authority to permit their extinction?’ We wonder, ‘What can be more grievous than watching the last of our relatives go under the waves for the last time?’ The speakers at the gathering shared a sense of urgency and empathy, heartbreak and hope, anger, anguish, and a call for action.
We ask you to take to heart their words and the suffering of these dear ones, and take action now in the spirit of right and respectful relations with the Creation.”
7. Orca and Salmon media roundup
Harmony in the Pacific © Rachael Kutz Below are a couple of media stories on Tahlequah’s grief journey, featuring pivotal information from orca scientists, experts, and advocates:
- The Seattle Times: How Tahlequah, her dead calf tell the story of climate change
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The Seattle Times: Where is Tahlequah? What we know about the mother orca and her calf
- Chek News: ‘It’s heartbreaking’: Grief-stricken orca continues to carry dead baby off B.C.
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The Seattle Times: Mother orca Tahlequah still carries dead calf after 11 days