"the mountain and the sea are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books." -john lubbock
Meet Our Team
The Salish Sea School is committed to cultivating and preserving a culture of diversity, inclusion, and connectedness. We are able to grow and learn better together with a diverse team. We welcome the unique contributions that one can bring in terms of their education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veteran’s status, color, religion, disability, sexual orientation and beliefs.
We are stronger together with the collective sum of individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, innovation, self-expression, and talent which ultimately brings about a healthier planet.
Click on the pictures below to learn more.
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.
Please learn more and then learn how you can help below.
Data and chart from WDFW
Data and chart from Orca Behavior Institute.
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.
Write Officials about lower Snake River dam breaching: Click here
Learn More:
Top 10 Reasons the Lower Snake River Dams will be Breached
Vital Connection: Orcas, Salmon & the Snake River Dams
River of Life, Channel of Death
Recovering a Lost River: Removing Dams, Rewilding Salmon, Revitalizing Communities
Learn about Cook Aquaculture's Permit Renewal
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).
Click here to read 2019 Public Comments - No allocation was made for the SRKWs for 2020
Stay tuned - Fair Fisheries are being considered CAO November 2020
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.
https://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/fraser/docs/commercial/albionchinook-quinnat-eng.html