Seattle — Scientists report that a baby orca has been born in an endangered killer whale population in the Pacific Northwest.
The Center for Whale Research announced the baby orca on Facebook Friday, saying the organization received photos showing a new calf in L Pod, known as the southernmost resident orcas near Tofino, British Columbia .
The baby looks to be just over three weeks old and will be the first new calf in the pod since L125 was born in 2021.
Researchers at the center will need to follow up with the group on the water to locate the calf’s mother, assess the health of the baby, and assign it an alphanumeric designation.
“We hope to see this calf in our study area soon!” the group said.
“We are always cautiously optimistic about these new babies, because the mortality rate is very high in the first year,” Michael Weiss, research director at the Center for Whale Research, told The Seattle Times. “But we’re hopeful — it’s good to have another El Pod baby.”
Southerners are struggling to survive a number of threats, including a lack of enough Chinook salmon in their grazing range, pollution and underwater noise that make it difficult for them to hunt.
If confirmed, the new calf would bring the total number of Southern residents to 74.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, this is one of the lowest population counts since 1974, when 71 orcas were counted following the live-capture fishery in the 1960s.
The population peaked at 98 in 1995, but declined to 80 whales in 2001.
Southerners live in matrilineal families that are divided into three groups, designated J, K and L. They typically live in the Salish Sea and along the Oregon Coast along the western coastal islands of Canada and Washington.
As apex predators, they play an important role in the ecosystem at the top of the food chain.
The southern inhabitants were listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 2005, and a recovery plan was concluded in 2008.
In 2015 they were one of NOAA’s “Species in the Spotlight”, an effort to raise awareness and save “the most at-risk marine species”.
The National Marine Fisheries Service in 2021 will expand critical habitat for southern otters from the Canadian border to Point Sur, California, to include approximately 16,000 square miles (41,000 square kilometers) of feeding areas, estuaries and migratory routes.
