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Adventure: Orcas of the Salish Sea

Learn all about Southern Resident Orcas and Bigg's Orcas. 

Research: Orca Behavior

Students will help contribute to a local organization's (Orca Behavior Institute) research project through on the water data collection

Action: Local salmon declines

Students will learn about local salmon declines and learn how to write an elected official to let their voice be heard.

Salmon Advocacy for Southern Resident Orcas

Why salmon?

Southern Residents are fish-eaters, feeding primarily on salmon, with Chinook making up over 80% of their overall diet. They used to be seen in the Salish Sea for most of the summer when salmon runs were once abundant. Unfortunately, salmon species in our area are now endangered. When the issue in lack of food is compounded with contaminants in the water and vessel noise, the road to recovery for Southern Resident orcas remains perilous.

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Please learn more and then learn how you can help below.

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Data and chart from WDFW

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Data and chart from Orca Behavior Institute.

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Data and chart from Orca Behavior Institute.

There is hope. But that involves active participation from the public. That is YOU!

 

What can you do? Please find a few suggestions below.

Request immediate breaching of the lower Snake River dams

The SRKWs now spend the majority of their time outside of the Salish Sea, searching for salmon on the coast of WA, CA, and OR. The Columbia and Snake River salmon stocks are on the NOAA priority list, furthermore the four dams are all run-of-river facilities, which means that they have limited storage capacity in their reservoirs and pass water through the dam at about the same rate as it enters the reservoir.  They provide irrigation for 13 farms, 4% of the region's electricity, and the barging is taxpayer-supported. 

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Write Officials about lower Snake River dam breaching: Click here

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Learn More:

Top 10 Reasons the Lower Snake River Dams will be Breached

Vital Connection: Orcas, Salmon & the Snake River Dams

Dammed to Extinction

DamNation

River of Life, Channel of Death 

Recovering a Lost River: Removing Dams, Rewilding Salmon, Revitalizing Communities

Support Fair Fisheries

Fisheries managers establish a “total allowable catch” each year (North of Falcon), and currently, the entire catch is designated for human consumption—with nothing allocated for whales. The public can demand change. We must insist that NOAA and the Pacific Salmon Commission acknowledge the needs of the SRKWs and allocate salmon for them, while honoring tribal treaty rights. Southern Resident Killer Whales are a federally protected, endangered species. And the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has a legal obligation to safeguard the whale’s prey. But they’re not adhering to this requirement (learn more at wildorca.org).

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Click here to read 2019 Public Comments - No allocation was made for the SRKWs for 2020

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Stay tuned - Fair Fisheries are being considered CAO November 2020

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Follow the Fraser Test Fishery​

The purpose of the multi-panel net is to ensure representative sampling of Chinook passing through the lower Fraser River, due to the wide range of body sizes observed in Fraser River Chinook stocks. 

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https://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/fraser/docs/commercial/albionchinook-quinnat-eng.html

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