No Southern Residents in inland waters for 8 weeks

Today marks 8 week since our last confirmed report of Southern Residents in the inland waters of the Salish Sea.

From the 1970s through the early 2000s, the weeks around the summer solstice were one of the most reliable times of the year to see Southern Resident killer whales around the San Juan Islands on a near-daily basis. Drawn in by abundant Fraser River Chinook runs, even all three pods could spend days or weeks on end making their circuit to the mouth of the Fraser River and back.

Over the last 10-15 years, the whales' travel patterns have changed. In particular, J-Pod, typically the "most resident" of the three pods, now regularly makes a spring exodus from the Salish Sea. Ks and Ls would reliably arrive sometime in June, but now only make sparse visits in July and August. We had seen some indication in recent years that maybe the whales were returning to what has been known as their "core summer habitat", but after Js were here throughout May and June in 2024, we are again seeing a prolonged absence.

Is it a coincidence that it was 2021 when we went over 100 days without J-Pod in inland waters, marking the first ever May AND June without their presence here? It's also the year we had summer "heat domes" in the region, and high temperatures can negatively effect salmon smolts. Chinook tend to run in 4 year cycles, so whatever happened that year likely influences what's happening this year in terms of fish.

Based on sightings in previous years, we suspect most or all of the Southern Residents are off the western end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the outer coast, perhaps even all together. Being out there gives them the opportunity to encounter Chinook returning not just to the Fraser River, but those continuing down the coast returning to river mouths further south. We hope they are finding abundant prey there, but it doesn't make it less sad to no longer have them here.

When will we have Southern Residents again in the Salish Sea? In 2021, J-Pod left the area in early April and didn't return until the end of July. We can only hope we don't have to wait that long again.