The Southern Resident Killer whales (Orcinus orca) (SRKW) are an endangered group of orcas with current range of Pacific North East from California to Northern British Columbia and spend most of the summer months in and around the Salish Sea. This group of mammals feed primarily on fish, are very local and live in tight-knit family units called pods. The July 2019 census reported 73 animals, down from 77 in July 2017. Man-made underwater noise, primarily from commercial and recreational vessels is suspected to have detrimental effects on these whales. Here we present a Government of Canada program designed to obtain baseline underwater noise information in habitats that have been deemed critical to SRKW survival and discuss some research that is underway to assess the impact of noise on these whales and some possible mitigation tools that might help reduce the overall noise impact.

The Natural Resources & Environmental Studies Institute (NRESi) at UNBC hosts a weekly lecture series at the Prince George campus. Anyone from the university or wider community with interest in the topic area is welcome to attend. Presentations are also made available to remote participants through Livestream (Channel 1). Go to http://www.unbc.ca/nres-institute/colloquium-webcasts to view the presentation remotely.

Past NRESi colloquium presentations and special lectures can be viewed on our video archive, available here.