orcas

A fishing boat that sank with nearly 10,000 litres of fuel on board near the Canada−U.S. marine border went down in one of the worst possible places for endangered orcas, an ocean pollutants expert says.

A plan to build a new shipping container terminal the size of nearly 144 football fields at a major Metro Vancouver port has sparked a rival proposal along with concerns for endangered orcas and the salmon they depend on.

A new study appears to debunk the prevailing hypothesis that endangered southern resident killer whales are in decline due to plummeting chinook salmon stocks in the Salish Sea during the summer months.

Outer coast killer whales, a little-known type of orca, have a vocal dialect and culture distinct from their West Coast cousins in B.C. and specialize in hunting big game, such as gray whale calves, massive elephant seals, and sea lions in California ocean waters.

Coextinction, set to premiere in Canada at the Vancouver International Film Festival, shows how the survival of southern resident killer whales is tied to the collapse of wild salmon populations and injustice against Indigenous peoples displaced as environmental stewards.

A county in Washington state has become the first such jurisdiction in the U.S. to ban new fossil fuel infrastructure following a lengthy battle over the impact of oil refineries on the local community.

Endangered southern resident killer whales would have a much better chance of survival if chinook were in their hunting grounds during winter off the coast of British Columbia, a new study says.

Known as “killer whales” for their ability to prey on larger whales, orcas in the Pacific Northwest have suffered from fatal encounters with ships and other vessels, malnutrition, disease, and accidental stranding due to sudden shifts in tides, according to a new study.

Two northern resident killer whale families brought along a baby as they returned for the first time in 20 years to their traditional winter foraging grounds in British Columbia waters. 

Transport Canada confirms it has issued 159 written warnings and logged 51 verbal warnings as of this month, and that those represented the entirety of the enforcement actions it took so far this year, pending some cases still “under review.”

Researchers are aiming to "teach" a computer to recognize the sounds of resident killer whales in order to develop a warning system for preventing ships from fatally striking endangered orcas off British Columbia's coast.

For many, declining southern resident killer whales represent an age of human-caused climate change and extinction. For Coast Salish communities, it’s personal.

Three southern resident killer whales have been declared dead by the Center for Whale Research, bringing the population down to 73.

A U.S.-based animal protection group is touring coastal Nova Scotia communities in hopes of finding one interested in becoming a retirement home for whales and dolphins raised in captivity.

Federal Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson has announced the creation of two new protected zones in B.C.’s coastal waters as part of a plan to save endangered resident killer whale populations.