The Southern Residents

J-50 is a four year old killer whale. From the time she was first sighted shortly after her birth, she has had scars across her body. The scars match patterns associated with killer whale teeth. Scientists think J-16, her mother, was having difficulty birthing her and that the killer whale teeth marks were evidence of another killer whale helping with the delivery, in other words, a killer whale doula assisting the birth of a miracle baby. After her first birthday, J-50 has been commonly known as Scarlet.

Scarlet is one of the youngest members of the J-Pod, a collection of six matrilines, families headed by senior females. The J-Pod, along with the K-Pod and L-Pod, comprise a super pod ecotype of killer whales known as the Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW). There are currently only 75 SRKW alive, down from a “high” of 98 in 1995. I wrote “high” because that number, although promising at the time, did not reach typical population levels of SRKW. Between 1965 and 1975, SRKW were harvested for sale to marine parks around the world. 13 SRKW were killed in attempted harvests, and 45 where shipped to buyers. There is only one survivor of those 45. In 1975, the first SRKW census after this type of harvest became illegal counted 71 individuals.

I took these photos last Sunday from the rocky shore at Lime Kiln State Park on San Juan Island. The park looks out onto Haro Strait with Vancouver Island, Canada in the background. Although I wasn’t able to capture them in one photograph, Maria and I saw Scarlet swimming with her mom and her older sister, 12 year old Echo. It is an amazing sight to see and we are hoping their hunt for food was successful.

Haro Strait is a prime route for Chinook salmon in their journey from the Pacific Ocean to the Fraser River, the river from both where they were born and are driven to reproduce. SRKW, like Scarlet, are fish eaters with over 80% of their summer diet being Chinook salmon. Fisheries and Oceans Canada projects a below average to poor return for Chinook salmon to the Fraser River in 2018.

Killer whales use echolocation to navigate their environment and to pinpoint their prey. They do this by focusing clicks and whistles produced in their jaws and nasal passages through a fat-filled organ called a melon. The melon sits atop a killer whale’s head giving them their characteristic bulbous forehead shape.

Scarlet is starving. The Center for Whale Research estimates that Scarlet is about one-quarter of the size of a healthy killer whale her age. Her melon, normally filled with fats and fluid, has shrunken to a shape resembling a peanut. Observers have reported that her muted blows smell like nail polish, a sign that her body is digesting itself for energy. Scarlet’s condition is worsening and may add to evidence of J-Pod’s decline along with the current heartbreaking news of her aunt, J-35, mourning the loss of her baby.

Recovery plans for the SRKW must incorporate a host of environmental and ecological measures. We can advocate for reduction of man-made noise along their hunting grounds, restoring and protecting salmon spawning streams and riverbeds, re-evaluating and adjusting commercial fisheries, and reducing or mitigating ocean pollution.