SEATTLE — A Southern Resident orca pod may have a new calf, the Center for Whale Research announced Friday.
The center received photos of what appears to be a calf swimming with the L pod on June 19 off the coast of Tofino, British Columbia.
Howie Tom captured photos of the orca, which was seen with members of the L77 matriline. In a Facebook post, Tom said he encountered the pod about 4.5 miles offshore.
The center is expected to investigate to determine the calf’s mother, assess its health and assign it an alpha-numeric designation.
If confirmed, this would be the first calf in the L pod since L125 was born in 2021.
Several calves were born in the J and K pods last year, including J59, the J Pod’s first calf since September 2020 and K45, the K pod’s first calf since 2011.
If this new calf survives, it would bring the Southern Resident population to 74, according to data from the nonprofit Orca Conservancy.
Although the L pod is the largest of the three Southern Resident pods, the Orca Conservancy reports it fell to its lowest number of orcas last year when L89 was declared dead. It’s a trend seen among the Southern Residents in general, which in recent years have been at their lowest populations in decades.
Southern Resident orcas have faced a challenging plight, as their food supply of Chinook salmon has dwindled, and they have been impacted by pollution and boat noise, which hurts their ability to hunt.
