It would be an obscure sighting of the species. The closest beluga population, which lives at least 1,400 miles away in Alaska’s Cook Inlet, is endangered and covered under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
If upwelling starts a month earlier than usual, the amount of oxygen, already low, has to last until the fall when storms promote mixing which adds oxygen back into the system. As of late September this year, upwelling is still occurring and low levels of oxygen are still persisting.
Nearly 30 transient orcas were spotted in the Salish Sea around British Columbia and Washington state over the Labor Day weekend, a positive sign for the species, according to local whale watchers and researchers.
Some 22,950 sockeye were counted at Ballard’s Hiram Chittenden Locks in 2020, but only about 3,000 made it to the mouth of the Cedar. Another 40 to 50% of those fish typically die on the spawning grounds before they can reproduce.A vortex of climate change, urbanization and predators endangers a beloved species.
Shellfish in the Puget Sound tested positive for the prescription opioid oxycodone, and this was not the only drug found by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Environmental reporter Christopher Dunagan discusses the challenges of protecting Puget Sound and all things water-related. Weather extremes now surpassing the realm of natural possibilities
Multiple groups of transient killer whales were spotted in the waters off Vashon Island Friday, according to the Vashon Hydrophone Project’s Ann Stateler (“Orca Annie”).
The peer-reviewed research published this week in the Public Library of Science suggests that 99% of the orcas studied had photographic evidence of skin lesions. Researchers evaluated photos from nearly 20,000 orca sightings from 2004 to 2016, finding that lesions — often gray patches and gray targets on the orcas' skin — generally became more prevalent over time.
All Topics
All Countries
Any Date
Apply