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Southern Resident killer whales have been hanging out in Puget Sound much longer than normal this fall, probably because of an unusually large run of chum salmon coming into Central and South Puget Sound, experts say. As of today, J pod has remained in Puget Sound for 19 straight days with the exception of a […]

UPDATE, Oct. 11, 2024 Although the newest calf in L pod has not yet been declared missing or deceased by the Center for Whale Research, it is hard to imagine a good outcome from the description by CWR’s field biologist Mark Malleson, who observed K and L pods on Oct. 5 at Swiftsure Bank near […]

In 2022, more than three million scientific papers were published in about thirty thousand journals. This represented something like a 9% increase over the year before, and a 47% increase since 2016. “Academic publishing has a problem,” wrote Mark A. Hanson, the biologist at the University of Exeter who compiled these figures. “The last few […]

Although the official census report won’t be submitted for a couple months, at least two southern resident killer whales have died over the past year, with one of them being a little more than a month old. This unnamed, deceased baby, designated J60, was the only new birth reported among the endangered orca population in […]

A formal proposal to designate resident and Bigg’s killer whales as separate species has been rejected by a committee widely recognized as the authority in naming new marine mammal species. The proposal for new orca species, put forth by a team of geneticists and marine mammal biologists, was based on the distinct genetic, physical and […]

Noise and disturbance from boats can disrupt the normal hunting behaviors of killer whales, according to marine mammal experts. Now, with southern resident orcas facing extinction, every disruption becomes a concern, they say. Such is the thinking behind a new state law designed to better protect the endangered whales by further limiting how close recreational […]

Killer whales worldwide are currently identified as a single species, Orcinus orca. But two new species of orca, representing thousands of whales in the North Pacific, could be added to the scientific nomenclature within the next month. Evidence supporting the new species, which I described in the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound, has been submitted for […]

We want to hear from you! Help us bring you the best possible science news about Salish Sea ecosystem recovery. The University of Washington Puget Sound Institute invites you to take a survey so we can learn more about your information needs. The survey should take about 3 minutes to complete and your responses will be […]

Big construction projects often trigger big conservation projects, because federal and state laws require mitigation for environmental damage. For the past 12 years, Hood Canal Coordinating Council has been working quietly to protect and restore shorelines, wetlands and freshwater habitats in Hood Canal by using funds spun off from construction by the U.S. Navy and […]

Scott Brewer, who has served as executive director of the Hood Canal Coordinating Council for the past 16 years, has stepped down from that position to focus his attention on the council’s efforts to remove Hood Canal summer chum from the Endangered Species List. This unique population of chum salmon, listed as threatened, has made […]