Project Orca WorldWide

💥"POW"ERFUL STATEMENT!💥
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Once again, an endangered orca in Washington state is seen carrying a dead calf Once again, an endangered orca in Washington state has been seen carrying her dead newborn calf in an apparent effort to revive it. Researchers with the Center for Whale Research, SeaDoc Society and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance said they received reports on Friday that the whale — identified as...

One of the coast’s most closely watched orca families was spotted near Vancouver Island last week.

On July 30th, the family of Brave Little Hunter (Kʷiisaḥiʔis) was seen travelling just off the coast of Sooke. The sighting included her grandmother Frio (T109A) along with three of Frio’s sons, one of them being a brand new addition to the family.

The new calf Weiss (T109A8), born in 2025, is the uncle of Brave Little Hunter. As far as we know, they’ve yet to meet.

BLH captured hearts across the coast after being trapped in and then escaping the lagoon, where her mother, Spong, tragically drowned while hunting. Though BLH has not yet been resighted since August 2024, the presence of Weiss signals the continued strength and growth of the T109A matriline.

Bigg’s killer whales live in matrilineal family groups, where offspring remain with their mothers for life. Sons like Garrett and Argyle travel with their maternal relatives, relying on older females for survival and social structure. In these tight-knit pods, the matriarch, like Frio, anchors the family across generations.

Photos (from shore) and identifications by Ryan Michael

Orcas - one more reason to support the Great Bear Sea Marine Protected Area (MPA) Network. Click the image below and use our message writer to tell Ottawa to defend our coast.

From Ryan: Thank you, Strong Coast—this is an excellent article! I want to note that my photos were snapped quietly and respectfully from shore, ensuring I played no part in disturbing these majestic beings on the water, as many whale-watching vessels sadly do.

It’s hard to believe we’ve already passed the end of July, but it’s time for a look back at another month of killer whale sightings in the Salish Sea. As these sightings maps have grown in popularity, we tend to get many of the same questions on them each month, so let’s address those things first this time: there have been no updates on Brave Little Hunter, we believe in using the terms killer whale and orca interchangeably and don’t intend to change in that regard, and the dots on this map may not show where you specifically saw killer whales since they only represent the first sighting location for each unique group on a unique day. Learn more about all of these topics here:
https://www.orcabehaviorinstitute.org/orca-updates/frequently-asked-questions

For Southern Residents, July is an unpredictable month in which their presence varies widely from year to year. Some years, they are present in the Salish Sea for the majority of the days of the month, and others, they are almost entirely absent. 2025 was one of the latter, with just 3 days of presence, which is the second lowest on record. J-Pod came in from July 14-16, did one lap up to the Fraser River and back, then departed again. Thanks to outer coast field work by the Center for Whale Research in early July, we did get an update on the whereabouts of the Southern Residents during the first week of the month, and it turns out they were all together in the Swiftsure Bank area. It’s a stark reminder that just because superpods aren’t happening here, it doesn’t mean they aren’t happening anywhere. With the entire Southern Resident community congregating out there for days if not weeks on end, we can only hope they’re finding an abundant source of fish to enjoy.

For Bigg’s killer whales, sightings were down a bit compared to July 2024, just the second month this year with a downtick compared to the year prior. That isn’t to say sighting were low, however; in fact this was the 7th straight July on record with confirmed Bigg’s presence in the Salish Sea every single day of the month. The first half of the month was bopping with 30-40 whales present every day in often 8 or 9 different groups per day. Mid-month we watched as one matriline after another went north and exited the region, including the T35As, T36s, T38As, T69s, T77s, T99s, and more. That left us with a very predictable end to July, with the same four groups present in almost the exact same place every day: the T101s in the northern Strait of Georgia, the T65Bs in the central Salish Sea, and the T65As and T137s in southern Puget Sound. Often in August, seemingly timed with the harbor seal weaning period in the San Juan Islands, we get another influx of Bigg’s matrilines returning, so we can’t wait to see how that plays out this year.

As has been the case in recent years, the A42s with A94 (a group of 8 whales of the Northern Resident Community) took up seasonal residence in July in the waters between Campbell River and Powell River. The returned to the area at the very end of June and stayed until the last week of July.

Shall we try another round of peerless prognostications for the month of August? Here goes nothing! (For context, Monika wrote these on July 31st)

⦿ The Southern Residents will be present for half a dozen days or less
⦿ We will see the return of the T18s, T34s/T37s, T60s, and T124Ds to the Salish Sea, none of which were seen here in July.
⦿ The A42s will return to the northern Salish Sea and spend more than half the month of August there

Adorable! 😊

A hunt!

💥💥Hero💥💥,
Its up to us to save the ocean, either we do it or we die when the ocean dies. Remember hero's dont always wear capes. Sometimes they wear wetsuits.

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🌊 Resgate emocionante em Ubatuba! 🐬💙 Durante um patrulhamento preventivo na praia de Itamanbuca com bote de salvamento na manhã dessa sexta-feira, os guarda-vidas do GBMar realizaram o resgate de um filhote de boto-cinza que estava preso em uma rede de pesca e lutava para respirar. Com rapidez e precisão, eles cortaram as redes e devolveram o animal com segurança ao mar. Parabéns ao Cabo De Faria e Soldado Christian, que agiram com profissionalismo e dedicação para salvar mais uma vida no mar. São ações como essa que reforçam a importância do trabalho incansável dos nossos guarda-vidas! 👏🌊 BOMBEIROS EMERGÊNCIA LIGUE ☎️ 193 🚒 #todavidaimporta #corpodebombeirosdapmesp #rescue #bombeiros #lifeguard #193