A sea otter was seen climbing onto surfboards and following surfers near Sooke, British Columbia, prompting safety warnings from Fisheries and Oceans Canada regarding interactions with marine mammals.

A 23-year-old male orca named Noah made a surprising visit to Victoria's Inner Harbour on December 14, causing excitement among locals.

The Orca Conservancy said the sightings made history. Some whale watchers hope it will again raise awareness of the need to protect them.

Researchers in Washington reported observing orcas in Puget Sound balancing salmon on their heads, a behavior not seen in decades.

The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe catches coho salmon on the free-flowing Elwha River for the first time in over a century since the removal of dams, marking a historic moment for the tribe and the river's recovery.

Western red cedars in South Langley, BC are dying, with browning starting at the tops during summer and progressing downward until the trees are completely dead.

Three adult harbor seals in Puget Sound have tested positive for the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 strain, marking the first incidence of HPAI in marine mammals on the West Coast, and officials are urging beachgoers to avoid contact with wildlife.

Joe Gaydos found a bluefin tuna washed up on Orcas Island off the coast of Washington state. According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the fish usually roam the more temperate waters of the Pacific Ocean.

The Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife said the fish are yellow perch, which are common in the lake.

“We spent the weekend outdoors camping on the peninsula and notices shoreline grasses has dried and shriveled.”

New fish have been spotted in a recently revitalized section of Craigflower Creek in View Royal, B.C., thanks to a development site with an environmental focus.

In 2022, a record number of Bigg’s killer whales (orcas) and humpback whales were spotted in the waters surrounding Victoria as well as south along Washington’s border.

A B.C. photographer and her dog found a Giant Pacific octopus washed up on the shore of a Vancouver Island beach.

The Lummi Nation has declared a disaster after removing 70,000 invasive European green crabs from their sea pond in November. According to Seattle-based King News, the Lummi Nation cultivates shellfish and juvenile salmon in their 750-acre sea pond. The European green crab preys on young oysters, clams, and are known to dig down into the sand, uprooting eel grass, which is habitat for juvenile salmon.

Conditions at a Canadian pump station improved over night after they officials issued an evacuation order that had Whatcom residents concerned of more flooding.

Volunteers from the Friends of Bowker Creek Society say uncovering caddisfly larvae in the gravel beds of the stream show the water quality has improved to a level sufficient to sustain salmon and cutthroat trout.

Two distinct species of orcas feed and socialize in the waters of Puget Sound: fish-eating endangered southern resident killer whales and transient, or Bigg’s, killer whales, which feed on marine mammals and are more common. They seldom mix.

We saw over 100 on a 1/2 mile stretch of beach. I am wondering if the chiton die-off is related to the stormy conditions or something else?

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.

In 2009, the numbers dropped down to just 500 pairs of Chinook returning. Yet, as of Tuesday, more than 8,000 Chinook had returned to their Cowichan River spawning grounds. The improvement is the result of years of conservation efforts by Cowichan Tribes, who have worked to restore the river to its course before logging operations changed the river.