Resources

• Governor’s Executive Order 18-02 that created the task force and required state agencies to take immediate action to benefit Southern Residents
• Final Report and Recommendations (2019)
• Task Force Report (2018)
• Governor’s Office, Southern Resident Orca Whale Recovery

Progress Reports

• Legislative Session Summary 2022
• Status Report 2020-2021
• Status Report 2019-2020

• Center for Whale Research‘s population census information and photographic identification of orcas
• Center for Whale Research’s Web site to hear orca calls, blows, and more
• The Whale Trail guide for watching whales from British Columbia to southern California
• Orcasound’s Web site to listen to underwater microphones
• The Whale Museum’s Webcam to see orcas near Lime Kiln Point State Park

• The Whale Museum’s Sound Watch Boater Education Program to help prevent vessel disturbance to whales and other wildlife in the central Salish Sea
• Be Whale Wise Web site and whale warning flag program to understand the rules for watching Southern Resident killer whales; outreach tool kit with resources for educators, mariners, and the public
• Commercial Whale Watching Licensing Program created by Senate Bill 5577
• Friends of the San Juans provide green boating tips to help boaters minimize damage to eelgrass, an important habitat to salmon, herring, and orca
• Give Them Space, a voluntary pledge program for boaters to stay a half nautical mile (1,000 yards) away from the endangered orcas in the Salish Sea
• Canada issued Interim Orders to help protect endangered Southern Resident killer whales from noise and physical disturbance from vessels in coastal waters off British Columbia

• The Whale Trail’s Kid’s Cove Web site, featuring kid-friendly videos and information about Southern Resident orcas
• Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s Hungry Orcas, Declining Salmon curriculum
• Bainbridge Island School District’s Elementary School Curriculum
• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Saving the Southern Resident Killer Whales, a Project-Based Learning Unit for Middle Schoolers

• Eba + Orcas, a story of Eba, a dog that can tell when orcas are near.
• Salish Sea Wild, Team SeaDoc works with scientists trying to save the Salish Sea’s most iconic and endangered species: the Southern Resident killer whale.

• Orca Recovery in the Salish Sea, Conservation Starters
• An Update on Orca Recovery in the Salish Sea, WWU Alumni Association
• Checking in on Endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales, NOAA Fisheries West Coast

• State of Salmon in Watersheds, Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office
• State of our Watersheds, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission
• State of the Sound, Puget Sound Partnership
• Puget Sound Info, Puget Sound Partnership’s information on restoration, protection, and recovery information for the Puget Sound region
• Salmon Recovery Portal, Salmon Recovery Funding Board and Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office
• Action Agenda, Puget Sound Partnership’s science-based recovery plan for Puget Sound

• Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife video on increasing hatchery production to feed orca

• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Web page on the plight of the orcas and federal recovery efforts
• NOAA’s Species in the Spotlight overview of the orcas and recovery efforts
• NOAA’s 5-year review of the status of Southern Resident orcas
• The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s killer whale conservation and management site with orca information and resources
• Washington Department of Transportation’s Washington State Ferries Sustainability Action Plan: 2021-2023 that highlights work being done to  benefit Southern Residents

• Orca Network, a nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness of the Pacific Northwest whales

Photograph by Jeanne Hyde