Three adult harbor seals in Puget Sound have tested positive for the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 strain, marking the first incidence of HPAI in marine mammals on the West Coast, and officials are urging beachgoers to avoid contact with wildlife.
In 2022, a record number of Bigg’s killer whales (orcas) and humpback whales were spotted in the waters surrounding Victoria as well as south along Washington’s border.
Two distinct species of orcas feed and socialize in the waters of Puget Sound: fish-eating endangered southern resident killer whales and transient, or Bigg’s, killer whales, which feed on marine mammals and are more common. They seldom mix.
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.
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.
The most common pod of southern resident killer whales who migrate to the Salish Sea during the summer have not been seen for than 100 days, marking a highly unusual absence from their historic summer hunting ground, according to researchers.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said photographer Marissa Baecker, who was visiting White Rock from Kelowna on Christmas Day. “It wasn’t just a feeding, it was a feast.”
People in White Rock, B.C. are used to seeing fish in their waters but not quite like this.
Southern resident killer whales which are often spotted in the Salish Sea near Vancouver throughout June haven't been seen this season, and scientists believe that could be because of the lack of chinook salmon.
Researchers say their absence is a stark reminder that the orcas are slowly starving to death because there is not enough Chinook salmon to sustain them.
A dead grey whale was found floating in Boundary Bay, near the United States border, this week. It's the sixth grey whale to have been found dead in B.C. waters this year.
A dead male grey whale that was found floating between Sidney Island and James Island on Thursday has been towed to Fisheries and Oceans Canada's Institute of Ocean Sciences in Sidney for a necropsy.
A raucous crowd has moved into Cowichan Bay and the volume and odour coming from them is wafting for blocks around. Locals estimate over 300 sea lions have descended on the Cowichan community and their presence is proving a huge tourist draw.
The population of endangered killer whales has hit a 30-year-low, numbering only 75 this year.
The biggest challenges for whales is the buildup of toxic chemicals in their bodies and the shrinking runs of Chinook salmon, their primary prey.
Rare observation of sea otter in Haro Strait, perhaps first since 2014.
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