Federal officials have shut down salmon and recreational fishing for the summer in key feeding grounds for killer whales. The closures, which took effect Friday, apply to parts of the southern . . .

Like its old-growth trees, the Northwest’s big, old chinook salmon are largely gone, a new study finds, with implications for Puget Sound’s critically endangered southern resident killer whales.

Researchers say their absence is a stark reminder that the orcas are slowly starving to death because there is not enough Chinook salmon to sustain them.

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.

DFO proposes closing an area from Sheringham Point to East Point