June is Orca Action Month here in the Pacific Northwest! Orcas have a level of intelligence and social complexity that rivals our own. Although all orcas are the same species, they have distinct subpopulations with their own culture, dialect, diet, and genetics as unique as the ecosystems they inhabit. The most endangered population is the Southern Resident killer whale, found in the Salish Sea around Seattle and Vancouver. Reduced to around 70-75 individuals by the marine park trade in the 1960s, they haven’t recovered since. Accumulated pollutants compromise their immune and reproductive systems. Declining Chinook salmon, their preferred prey, leaves them facing chronic malnutrition. And heavy shipping traffic fills their waters with noise, drowning out their ability to communicate, navigate, and hunt. OceansInitiative is a local nonprofit conducting non-invasive research on SRKWs. Their work is the reason we understand these threats as well as we do, and they continue to research...