Southern Resident Killer Whale
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Southern Resident Killer Whale, are a group of Killer Whale or Orca that spend most of their time moving back and forth between the Salish Sea in winter, and the Washington Outer Coast in Summer. They specialize in Chinook Salmon as their primary prey, and form stable social units. The current population is organized into three pods, with a population of 73 individuals as of 2019. They currently suffer from starvation and low infant mortality, and are affected by Marine Traffic Noise, toxin loading in body fat, and scarcity of their primary prey Chinook Salmon due to hatcheries, overharvest, and habitat destruction. They were listed as endangered in Canada in 2003 and in the United States in 2005.
Notes[edit]
- File:NOAA & WDFW 2018 killer whale chinook stock priorities.pdf - this technical report provides a relative importance model for existing Chinook Salmon populations.
- File:Southern Resident Orca Task Force 2018 initial recommendations.pdf - this initial report was sanctioned by the Governor of Washington State
- SRKW are the focus of Rights of Nature advocacy in the Salish Sea
- Hanson et al. 2021 describes seasonal prey consumption over SRKW range.
