Blog

The New Year has arrived and many of us are figuring out our personal goals to make 2019 the best year yet! We at the Aquarium are making our own resolution: to be part of the solution in the fight for a plastic-free future.

Over the past year the Aquarium has been trying to keep our readers up to date on the challenges facing our local orca population. The southern residents, better known as the J, K and L pods, are down to just 74 family members and news recently broke that two more members of J and K pods are struggling to get the food they need to survive.

As part of ongoing efforts to help save our southern resident orca population, a task force convened by Governor Jay Inslee has been meeting regularly over the past six months to help determine how we can take measurable steps to better protect our local orca population. Photo: Center for Whale Research.

We all love our local southern resident orcas, but they continue to struggle as they face ongoing strain on their local habitat and food supply. The Seattle Aquarium along with numerous local leaders, researchers, conservationists and partners from the Orca Salmon Alliance are advocating for greater protections for this iconic species and the salmon they depend on for food.

The Aquarium aspires to turn knowledge, into inspiration and move people to action. And this November Washington voters have an opportunity to take a big step toward better protecting the health of our planet and the ocean, by voting YES on Initiative 1631.

We here at the Aquarium are deeply saddened by the presumed loss of another young member of J Pod. Scarlet’s death brings the southern resident orca population down to just 74 individuals and is most certainly a blow to the future of this iconic species. We can all take a moment to mourn this tragic loss—and then we must come together and take measurable steps to save our southern resident population and their primary food source, Chinook salmon, to help protect the rest of Scarlet’s family.

The Endangered Species Act is an important law to help preserve and protect species that are threatened or on the path to recovery. These important federal protections have a 99% success rate when it comes to ensuring the survival of endangered or threatened animals and it is critical we keep these laws in place.

We at the Aquarium wanted to give a brief update on what is happening and share some news on steps the Orca Salmon Alliance has taken and what policy leaders are doing to help save this iconic species.

The love of sea otters led Diane Tomecek to establish the Sea Otter Foundation & Trust (SOFT) in the heart of land-locked Colorado.

We have all been gripped by the heartbreaking images of our Southern resident orca Tahlequah (also known as J35) as she mourned the death of her calf this past week. At the Seattle Aquarium we are all grieving along with the rest of the world. And though we are sad, we are viewing this as a wakeup call around the health of the Salish Sea and our mission of Inspiring Conservation of Our Marine Environment.

My latest shift on the beach was a bit of a slow one. It was not a very low tide and the overcast and drizzle kept families from heading down. The folks that did come down were really great and knowledgable.

I spent every day on the beach during this past super low tide series and it was wonderful! We will have more of the lowest tides of the summer this week and weekend, I hope you all get out to enjoy them.