Southern Resident Protection Defending the Salish Sea's Most Iconic Residents

Southern Resident Protection

Defending the Salish Sea's Most Iconic Residents

Latest Articles

Conservation & Consumption

Cargo vs. Current: How Pacific Northwest Port Expansion Could Cost the Salish Sea Its Last Salmon

Across the Pacific Northwest, proposals to expand commercial port infrastructure are colliding head-on with the ecological realities of salmon migration—and, by extension, the survival of Southern Resident killer whales. The debate pits powerful economic interests against mounting scientific evidence that further habitat disruption in critical nearshore corridors could prove irreversible. What happens in these negotiations will shape the Salish Sea for generations.
Science & Policy

Silent Nurseries: The Reproductive Crisis Quietly Erasing Southern Resident Killer Whales

Southern Resident killer whales are failing to reproduce at rates that could sustain their population, and scientists are piecing together a troubling picture of why. From nutritional deficits to toxic chemical loads, the physiological barriers facing reproductive females are compounding in ways that demand urgent policy intervention. Understanding this crisis is the first step toward reversing it.
Conservation & Consumption

Rules of the Water: A Boater's Guide to Sharing the Salish Sea with Southern Resident Killer Whales

Every vessel on the Salish Sea — from kayaks to commercial ferries — has the potential to harm Southern Resident killer whales through noise, physical proximity, and the risk of direct collision. Understanding the regulations, best practices, and reporting obligations that govern whale-safe boating is not optional for responsible waterway users; it is a baseline requirement for anyone who shares these waters with one of the world's most endangered marine mammal populations.
Broken Rivers, Starving Whales: The Hidden Cost of Pacific Northwest Dams
Science & Policy

Broken Rivers, Starving Whales: The Hidden Cost of Pacific Northwest Dams

Decades of dam construction across Pacific Northwest river systems have fractured the migratory pathways that Chinook salmon depend on — and without Chinook, Southern Resident killer whales cannot survive. Scientists and restoration advocates are now making the case that dam removal is not merely an environmental preference but an ecological emergency with direct consequences for one of North America's most imperiled marine populations.
Conservation & Consumption

From Your Plate to the Salish Sea: How Seafood Choices Determine Whether Southern Residents Survive

Every salmon fillet on an American dinner plate is connected, however invisibly, to the fate of the Southern Resident killer whales navigating the Salish Sea. As overfishing continues to hollow out the Chinook salmon runs these whales depend on, consumer choices at grocery stores and restaurants have become one of the most underestimated levers of marine conservation. Here is what the science says — and what you can do about it.
Science & Policy

Underwater and Unheard: The Acoustic Crisis Threatening Southern Resident Killer Whales in the Salish Sea

Beneath the surface of the Salish Sea, Southern Resident killer whales are navigating an acoustic environment so degraded by vessel noise that their most essential behaviors — hunting, communicating, and bonding as families — are being systematically disrupted. This investigative piece examines the science of underwater noise pollution, the regulatory responses emerging from Washington State, and the concrete actions that Pacific Northwest residents can take to quiet the waters these endangered