Endangered orcas missing from their home waters for 10 weeks

Southern resident killer whales haven’t been seen in their home waters for more than two months now. Researchers think the endangered orcas have gone elsewhere in search of a decent meal.

Southern resident killer whales are — or were — often found in the inland sea shared by Washington state and British Columbia.

May and June used to be prime time for watching the fish-chomping predators in the San Juan Islands and other areas of the inland waters known as the Salish Sea. But in recent years, the southern residents have stayed away.

“There’s just not enough fish to pull them in here and keep them here for any length of time,” said orca biologist Deborah Giles with the University of Washington’s Center for Conservation Biology.

Other than a brief sighting of 10 orcas on June 7 around Swiftsure Bank, an area of open ocean off the northwest tip of the Olympic Peninsula, scientists and whale watchers don’t know where the endangered population might be. They were last seen in inland waters on April 10.