Researchers recently published a study tracking the presence of killer whales in Washington waters, such as Puget Sound and the Salish Sea, since the 1970s.
The scientists looked at two populations of orcas: the endangered southern residents and Bigg’s killer whales, also called transient killer whales. They studied where each was found over time, using reports from The Whale Museum in Friday Harbor with data spanning 1978 to 2022. They published their findingsin PLOS One in late June.
“The key big finding here is that we are seeing increasing presence of transient killer whales,” said lead author Zoe Rand, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington…