A familiar tall black dorsal fin broke the surface of the water near the WestRock Tacoma Paper Mill this week and attracted the attention of photographers.
The whale wasn’t just any passing orca.
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It was T137A, better known as “Jack”, and one of the most recognizable Bigg’s killer whales in the Salish Sea.
Salish Sea’s Famous Orca Spotted Near Tacoma
Photos and video shared by AirWaterLand Photography captured Jack surfacing and breathing before slowly arching back under the water. In one image, his tall dorsal fin is perfectly framed with a ferry behind him. Other photos show the Tacoma shoreline blurred in the background, including the long-closed WestRock Paper Mill, once a major part of Tacoma’s industrial waterfront.
Jack is a 23-year-old male Bigg’s (transient) killer whale and the oldest offspring of the matriarch T137, also known as “Loon.”…