Southern Resident Orca and Salmon on the Brink

By Lisa ​Dekker

Southern Resident female orca, Tahlequah J35, carrying her deceased calf in July of 2018. Photo taken by Dave Ellifrit of the Center for Whale Research. Copyright 2018 Center for Whale Research. Taken under Federal Permits NMFS PERMIT: 27038/ DFO SARA 388

Here on the North Peninsula, fishermen, tribes, workers, and whole economic systems depend on the survival of millions of salmon. Yet it is the survival of just 73 orca whales who make their summer home in our waters that has drawn the world’s attention. Unique and beloved by many, these particular orca are on the brink of extinction, largely because their food source, salmon, are also in peril.

Our neighbors the Southern Residents
This particular orca family and their ancestors have lived in our saltwater neighborhood, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Salish Sea, for some ten thousand years. They are known as the Southern Residents, a genetically distinct ecotype of the orca species, and “one of the most advanced societies and cultures in the non-human world,” according to John K.B. Ford, a renowned Canadian orca expert. The Lummi nation, who have always revered them, use the Xwlemi word “qw’e lh’ol me chen,” which means “our relations who live under the sea.” Since 2005, under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), they have been designated as endangered.

They need salmon to survive
While these sentient creatures have become both the subjects of rigorous scientific studies and international YouTube stars, they are down to just 73 members after a peak of 97 in 1996. Warmer waters, accumulated toxins, ship noise and disturbance are factors, but it is severe malnutrition due to lack of salmon that is the most evident cause of their dwindling numbers. Their favored prey by far are Chinook salmon, also known as “Kings” or “Tyee,” whose numbers, both wild and hatchery, are in severe decline. 

A huge culprit in this decline locally and throughout all Northwest waters, is the system of 16 hydroelectric dams on the Columbia  and Snake rivers, owned by the Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, and two Public Utility Districts. Power sales are administered by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). Although the Strait of Juan de Fuca is far from the Columbia and Snake Rivers and their tributaries, salmon stocks here are affected. The dams cut off more than 55% of salmon spawning and rearing habitat, which means fewer adults make it to the Strait. Many wild salmon runs have as low as 2% or less of their historic populations.  Right now, we are losing at least 2.5 million adult salmon annually to the hydro-system.

Four dead-beat dams
There is broad scientific consensus that one of the most impactful ways to mitigate harm from this hydro system and to promote salmon recovery is to breach the four lower Snake River dams. These four dams were termed “dead-beat” by the late Jim Waddell, former Clallam County Public Utility District (PUD) commissioner and retired civil engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, because of their relatively minimal power production. Breaching them would open up 140 miles of new fall Chinook spawning and rearing habitat, as cool flowing water would replace the powerhouses and the hot reservoirs currently behind those dams. 

Conservation nonprofits, tribes, recreational and commercial fishing associations, orca preservation groups, and river advocates have fought for many years hold the dam owners and BPA accountable, while gaining public support for breaching these four dams. While in 2022 the Washington State Democratic Platform included “Developing and implementing a comprehensive plan for recovery of endangered Columbia-694 Snake salmon and steelhead and Southern Resident orcas. . .," no detailed plan has been completed as of today. (Illustration lists many reasons for breaching these four “dead-beat” dams.)

Infographic courtesy of damTRUTH.org. Artwork by Taylor Spaccarotelli, @_tdubs_creative_

Tribes Take Action
The voices of northwest Tribes, including those on the Peninsula, have grown stronger in their demands for action to restore salmon populations. They have recently stepped up efforts to increase their involvement, both through a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), and hands-on projects. In February of this year, members of the U.S. Tribal Caucus and Canada’s First Nation Caucus, via an MOU, “committed to work together to sustain healthy salmon populations and enhance their capacity for resource stewardship.” From their point of view (and the views of many scientists and conservation advocates) “government efforts … have failed to stop the decline of the salmon …” One of the signers of the MOU on behalf of the U.S. Tribal Council was Jamestown S’Klallam Chairman and CEO Ron Allen. He quoted tribal fishing rights defender Billy Frank Jr: “Every river has a people, and we take care of it and that’s our job, passed on by our elders. It’s going to take all of us.”

In May, the Lower Elwha Tribe, the North Olympic Salmon Coalition, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) collaborated in a hands-on project that brought 340 Port Angeles students to the Tribe’s hatchery. “The goal of the Salmon in the Schools program is to connect kids with the life cycle of salmon and salmon ecology,” said Chelsea Korbulic, a NOAA fisheries outreach and engagement specialist who works closely with the tribe. Students had raised Elwha River Coho salmon eggs to the “fry” stage in five elementary school classrooms and then released the tiny fish into the hatchery waters. A Franklin Elementary fifth grader wrote in a thank-you note “…we got to release the salmon. I named mine Junior and told him to have at least 3,000 kids.” 

What makes these Southern Residents so exceptional?
Made up of three pods, J, K, and L, the Southern Residents are distinguished from other orca groups because their primary home range is in the southern Salish Sea. (There is also a group of Northern Residents whose range stretches from the north end of Vancouver Island to southeast Alaska). Each Southern Resident pod contains several matrilines. Each matriline is made up of a “grandmother,” her daughters, and their offspring. They stay together with their family for their entire lifetimes. They hunt prey together, share it within the family group, and have their own calls or dialects that help them keep track of one another, especially during these hunts for salmon. Their human-like characteristics continue to surprise researchers and delight the public.

Tool-making and mourning
Close observation and research have revealed new and complex behaviors that set these incredible beings apart. One recent discovery, so far found exclusively among the Southern Residents, is the use of tool-making. Dubbed “allokelping,” it involves one orca biting off a stalk of kelp, the large seaweed we see in the summer in the Strait’s shallower near-shore waters. The kelp is then pressed by one orca against another orca who then rubs it between them. This could be a way of removing dead skin cells, and/or a way of strengthening social bonds. Aided by advanced drone technology, 30 observations of this behavior were documented over 12 days and involved all ages and sexes, and all three of the Southern Resident pods, J,K, and L.

Another unexpected behavior was displayed seven years ago. In July/August of 2018, female J35, known as Tahlequah, whose calf died a few hours after birth, demonstrated her grief and the strong familial bonds of the Southern Residents to the world. For 17 days and over 1000 miles, she carried her dead calf on her rostrum (upper jaw). And in January of this year, she repeated this heartbreaking ritual when she carried a second deceased calf for at least 11 days.

What is our obligation to the living world? Do we, or does the government, have the moral right to make choices that impact the survival of non-human lives? Do we have the right to deny our children the chance to share the world with orca, salmon, and other living things?

What can you do?
The Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative (CBRI) has been terminated by the Trump Administration. It lays out a straightforward strategy to restore salmon and steelhead to harvestable levels, uphold Tribal treaty rights, replace the services of the Lower Snake River dams, and build a resilient, equitable future for the Columbia Basin.

Please call Representative Emily Randall and leave a message for her at her Bremerton office, (360) 373-9725. Tell her you want her to support the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative (CBRI) and congressional appropriations consistent with the CBRI's recommendations. Thank you!

Sources
Orca: Shared Waters, Shared Home by Lynda Mapes, a co-publication with The Seattle Times

https://blog.nwf.org/2025/04/on-the-hunt-southern-resident-killer-whales-hunger-for-vanishing-salmon/

https://americanindiancoc.org/fighting-for-fishing-rights-and-tribal-sovereignty-in-the-pacific-northwest/

https://nwtreatytribes.org/students-learn-from-salmon-along-the-river/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/these-killer-whales-make-tools-from-kelp-to-massage-each-other-in-a-newly-discovered-grooming-behavior-180986873/

https://www.wildsalmon.org/

https://columbiasnakeriver.com/news/w7kd4ur4r728tfzoytxee2c20tt6c3

https://www.epa.gov/salish-sea/chinook-salmon

https://www.earthlawcenter.org/blog-entries/2019/10/the-lummi-nations-fight-for-rights-of-the-orcas