SRKW occurrence coastal - Occurrence and habitat use of SRKW and other top marine predators

The Southern Resident killer whale (SRKW) population is threatened by a number of identified risk factors including prey availability, contaminants, vessel noise and disturbance, and small population size. In addition, there are several data gaps SRKW regarding their ecology. Although summer distribution is well documented, their winter distribution is not well known. Satellite tagging, acoustic recorders, and a compilation of public sightings has allowed for a much better assessment of this population’s winter distribution. Satellite tagging has been suspended in response to the mortality of a tagged SRKW, such that acoustic recorders and public sightings will be the primary approaches used to improve our understanding of the whale population’s occurrence and habitat use. Recent data has shown changes in the whales’ summer distribution patterns. Consequently, additional data on occurrence and movement patterns will be particularly important to document in the near term as the next couple of years to assess their potential response to the expected to have relatively lower abundance of returning Chinook, their primary prey.
SRKW coastal sightings.