It would be an obscure sighting of the species. The closest beluga population, which lives at least 1,400 miles away in Alaska’s Cook Inlet, is endangered and covered under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Nearly 30 transient orcas were spotted in the Salish Sea around British Columbia and Washington state over the Labor Day weekend, a positive sign for the species, according to local whale watchers and researchers.
The population of endangered killer whales has hit a 30-year-low, numbering only 75 this year.
The biggest challenges for whales is the buildup of toxic chemicals in their bodies and the shrinking runs of Chinook salmon, their primary prey.
Multiple groups of transient killer whales were spotted in the waters off Vashon Island Friday, according to the Vashon Hydrophone Project’s Ann Stateler (“Orca Annie”).
The peer-reviewed research published this week in the Public Library of Science suggests that 99% of the orcas studied had photographic evidence of skin lesions. Researchers evaluated photos from nearly 20,000 orca sightings from 2004 to 2016, finding that lesions — often gray patches and gray targets on the orcas' skin — generally became more prevalent over time.
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