Southern resident orca pod in best condition in decade
By Lynda V. Mapes article
Photos of J Pod calfs taken under Federal Permits: NMFS PERMIT: 21238/ DFO SARA 388 (Mark Malleson/Center for Whale Research)
SEATTLE - She was a mother who happened to be an orca, whose plight resonated around the world as she clung to her dead calf, refusing to let it go.
Mother orca Tahlequah, J35, brought front and center the extinction crisis threatening the southern resident killer whales that frequent Puget Sound. There are only 75 left.
She swam through the Salish Sea for 17 days and more than 1,000 miles in the summer of 2018, in what many interpreted as a journey of grief. It’s possible she never let the calf go; when it was last photographed by scientists at the Center for Whale Research, the calf was falling apart.
SEATTLE
She was a mother who happened to be an orca, whose plight resonated around the world as she clung to her dead calf, refusing to let it go.
Mother orca Tahlequah, J35, brought front and center the extinction crisis threatening the southern resident killer whales that frequent Puget Sound. There are only 75 left.
She swam through the Salish Sea for 17 days and more than 1,000 miles in the summer of 2018, in what many interpreted as a journey of grief. It’s possible she never let the calf go; when it was last photographed by scientists at the Center for Whale Research, the calf was falling apart.
NOAA starts review of endangered Southern Resident orcas
Orca calf L125 swimming with its mother, Surprise. (Center for Whale Research)
NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service says it’s starting a five-year status review of the Southern Resident orcas.
NOAA Fisheries published a notice in the Federal Register about the status review last week, The Skagit Valley Herald reported. The whales were listed as endangered in 2005 under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Since the 1990s, the number of orcas in the three family groups called J, K and L pods that make up the population has dropped from the high 90s into the 70s.
NOAA Fisheries is initiating a five-year status review of the orcas, which were listed as endangered in 2005 under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Since the 1990s, the number of orcas in the three family groups called J, K and L pods that make up the population has dropped from the high 90s to the low 70s. The orcas, also called killer whales, live along the West Coast and frequent the Salish Sea.
NOAA Fisheries is initiating a five-year status review of the orcas, which were listed as endangered in 2005 under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Since the 1990s, the number of orcas in the three family groups called J, K and L pods that make up the population has dropped from the high 90s to the low 70s. The orcas, also called killer whales, live along the West Coast and frequent the Salish Sea.
Feds start endangered Southern Resident orca review By Associated Press
Share:
MOUNT VERNON NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service says it’s starting a five-year status review of the Southern Resident orcas.
NOAA Fisheries published a notice in the Federal Register about the status review last week, The Skagit Valley Herald reported. The whales were listed as endangered in 2005 under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Since the 1990s, the number of orcas in the three family groups called J, K and L pods that make up the population has dropped from the high 90s into the 70s.
The orcas, also called killer whales, live along the West Coast and frequent the Salish Sea.