J47 born to J35

January 4th, 2010

Annual Southern Resident Killer Whale population count reported to US National Marine Fisheries Service.

The Endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) population increased in 2009 to 87 individuals as of December 31, 2009, a net increase of two during a year in which three resident whales are missing and five were born. Three of the new babies were born into J pod, the most frequently observed of the three pods (J, K, and L) that frequent the Pacific Northwest inland marine waters of the Salish Sea. No sooner had the census report been made to the government than another new baby killer whale appeared in J pod, this one to a twelve year old female on 3 January 2010! For the time being, that means the SRKW population is back up to 88! We are optimistic that this “baby boom” in J pod represents a comeback for the resident population that went into steep decline in the mid 1990’s. Now, their survival and continued population recovery depends upon sufficient food supplies (wild salmon, particularly Chinook) in future years in this region. The whales are traveling as far as California and Haida Gwai (Queen Charlotte Islands) searching for these nutritious fish, but they keep coming back to the Salish Sea. If the whales could talk to us, they would probably say that our effort to promote wild salmon recovery in the Pacific Northwest is good for all of us, so lets do all that we can. And, lets clean up the pollution, too, so we can all eat healthy fish.