In 2018, an orca designated as J35 of the Southern Resident Orca Population captured global attention when she carried her deceased calf for 17 days, traversing over 1,000 miles in a profound display of grief. This behavior highlighted the deep emotional bonds these creatures share and brought to light the
precarious state of the Southern Resident Orca Population. Fast forward to December 2024, researchers from the Center of Whale Research confirmed that J35 had given birth to a new calf designated J61. Fantastic! The birth of the calf was a beacon of hope for the endangered Southern Resident Orca population, currently numbers only 73,000. individuals. However, this optimism, unfortunately, was short
lived. By January 1st, 2025, observations had revealed that J61 had passed away and J35 was once again seen carrying her deceased offspring. We're going to talk about the significance of this. We're going to talk about why this particular orca is found doing this twice and for so long on this episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast. Let's start the show. Hey everybody, welcome to a somber episode of the How to
Protect the Ocean podcast. I'm your host, Andrew Lewin. This is the podcast where you find out what's happening with the ocean, how you can speak up for the ocean, what you can do to live for a better ocean by taking action. And on today's episode, we're going to be talking about the death of J61. Not a very enlightening episode, not a hopeful episode, but one of cautionary tale to say, hey, you know what? these orca pop this or southern resident orca population
is in trouble. We're going to talk about why it's in trouble. We're talking about why it's so fragile and why these calves continue to die. There's only a 20% success rate in their survival a lot to cover today. But before we do, I just want to remind people if this is your first time here. I know it's the beginning of 2025. This is the first time here you're wondering what you can do to find out how to protect the ocean, what you can do more to protect the ocean. Just stay tuned
to this podcast. If you want to find out more episodes and you want to, and you don't want to just look on your podcast app, you can go to our website at speakupforblue.com. That's speakupforblue.com, all one word. And you can find out all of our shows. You can find out also shows of our other podcasts, the Beyond Jaws podcast, as well as others like Aquadox. and the Fancy Scientist wildlife podcast. You'll be able to find a lot of information on there. All you have to do is go to
speakupforblue.com. And if you want to join a community, I am putting a community together, and it's going to come very shortly. A new project that I'm working on is going to be launched at the end of this month. So if you want to do that, all you have to do is go to speakupforblue.com forward slash community. That's speakupforblue.com forward slash community. There's going to be a link in the description below. So look for that, click on it, put in your email, and you'll be added to that list.
And when we release and launch the community, you'll be able to be a part of it, one of the first ones. So join that community, speakupforblue.com forward slash community. Because it's a community that is going to be required to protect not only these orcas, but the ocean, and we're gonna help you do that. So unfortunately, the recurrence of this tragic event has prompted the reflection within the
scientific community. Dr. Michael Weiss, Research Director of the Center of Whale Research, noted that while it's not uncommon for orcas to carry their dead calves, the duration observed in J35's case is exceptional. So it's a little bit unique. Michael Weiss stated, it's interesting that it's the same whale doing the same behavior again. It seems to suggest that there's something about her as an individual that makes this behavior more prominent. So the southern resident
orca population faces multiple threats. The primary prey Chinook salmon is really, really low. Exposure to pollutants and disturbances from vessel noises also affect their population. These factors contribute to a high calf mortality, with studies indicating that only 20% of orca calves survive their first year. I want you to think about this for a little bit. We have orcas that are a long-lived species. They live in the wild. They can live for
like 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, even 80 years old. They're a very long-lived species. It takes a while to get to sexual maturity. And for this population to continue to thrive, they have to be reproducing one, two, three, maybe even four calves a year. But if their population is only allowing 20% of these calves to survive to adulthood or pass even the first year, not necessarily to adulthood, then
we are in trouble. Because eventually, this population, which stands at about 73 individuals, the older ones are going to start to pass away. And with all the disturbances that are happening, the noise, the lack of Chinook salmon, pollutants in the ocean, plastic pollution in the ocean, and climate change, of course, they're at risk of getting even, you know, even lower in numbers. So obviously this
is something that we need to do and we need to take action. So conservation organizations emphasize the need for urgent action and the Center of Whale Research advocates for salmon habitat restoration, removal of dams that impede salmon migration. We got to get that Chinook
salmon population up. This is what helps. sustainable fisheries management to ensure an adequate food supply for these orcas they assert every single birth every single birth counts and these whales need enough fish to be able to support themselves and their calves they are large individuals even as calves are large individuals but they grow to be even larger they grow to be 65 feet long, maybe even bigger at times, they have to be able to feed. They have to be
able to eat. And if this southern resident orca population only eats Chinook salmon, they need their Chinook salmon. They need lots of it. So they can't handle when Chinook salmon come back, and they come back 15 million individuals less than what they left, or what they were proposed to come back as, or predicted to come back as, which has happened in the past. Food scarcity is a problem. It's not allowing them
to grow and to be healthy. They need the fatty acids, they need the protein, they need everything they can to get from this Chinook salmon. They're not like the transient orca population where they can have sharks or whales or other fish or whales or marine mammals of that sort, seals and so forth. They're not like that. They need Chinook salmon. So they're very, very specific in their diet. In addition to food scarcity, chemical contamination
poses a significant risk. Orcas are among the most contaminated marine mammals due to bioaccumulation of toxins like PCBs and DDT, which can impair reproductive and immune function. So there could be a reason why You know, these orca calves are not surviving past the first year. It could just be that they don't really have a chance once they're born because of the amount of chemicals, the amount of PCBs, the amount of DTDs that are in their system when they're born. Addressing pollution
sources is crucial for their survival. So this loss of J61 is a stark reminder of the fragility of this southern resident orca population. However, there is a glimmer of hope. Another calf, J62, has been born in the J pod, and it appears to be doing quite well. We're gonna cross our fingers on that, knock on wood, knock on everything. The mother and sex of the calf are yet to be identified, but its birth offers a beacon of optimism amidst the
challenges. Even though there's still a small chance that this orca calf will live past the first year, it looks like it's doing pretty well. And hopefully this jaypod can grow by this other calf, just by one. Even if they grow by one, it helps. Now you gotta remember, this is a long-lived species, so hopefully it's a female. so that it has some reproductive ability later on, and it could birth a number of different individuals. But as we reflect on J35's story, it's imperative to recognize the
broader implications for marine conservation. Protecting the ocean requires a multifaceted approach. You can't just go out protecting one species. Addressing issues from habitat restoration to pollution control is extremely important. By supporting conservation initiatives and advocating for sustainable practices, each of us can contribute to the preservation of these majestic creatures and health of our ocean. I can't tell you enough how hard and how complex it is to protect the
ocean. I say this every episode. It's not an easy thing. You can't just go out and protect these wonderful species. It's not just that easy. They're in danger. They're already protected. There's no need to further protect just that species. You have to address the pollution. You have to address the changes in their environment from climate change to ocean noise. With climate change brings more ocean noise, believe it or not. There's
more shipping going on. There's shipping going on north of Canada through the Northwest Passage, but there's also increased shipping along the West Coast where these orca resident populations are. They are vulnerable, and we need to protect them. They are an apex predator. They are very smart. We can learn a lot from them. We still don't know very much about these species. We still don't know very much about this species. We still have so much more to learn. And what comes with learning about
them could help us in the future as humans. They're very similar to us. And there's strong cultural connections to indigenous populations within the area, within Puget Sound, right within the BC coastline. This is very important for the people who have a cultural tie to the species. In some indigenous populations, their ancestral souls will go into orcas, and they're believed to become orca populations. Very similar to Avatar 2, where
they cover that. where the souls of the indigenous people within, like the water people within that movie, went to the whale population of whatever they called those whales. I forget what they called those whales. And so a death of those whales meant a death of one of their ancestors. And that deep connection was lost. And that obviously isn't good. Not only from a cultural perspective, but also from a biological and ecological perspective.
So protecting these species requires not only do we protect the species themselves and observe them and find out what we can, but we also have to protect what's around that. We have to protect the water. That means controlling what goes into the water and keeping certain harmful things out. There are ports along that coastline that are not only in the U.S. but in Canada, very important ports, all up and down that coastline. And there are chemicals that
come out of that. There are spills that happen, oil spills. There are spills from whatever's being shipped. There's potential non-point sources and point sources. So point sources are where we know what's coming out or a pipeline of some sort of what's going in. So it could be wastewater, it could be anything, right? Sewage water, it doesn't matter. We know that it's coming at a specific point. It's at a pipe or something like that, but it's at a specific point. Non-point sources is where
we just can't track where they're actually coming from. But we have to take water samples all up and down the coast to find out where these contaminants are coming from. Now, we have to look at the prey. Bioaccumulation in orcas happens because they're eating so many fish. So bioaccumulation is happening in the fish. So it's going all the way down the food web. And when it comes up the food web, it accumulates in each of the bodies. So as the bodies get bigger and bigger, they eat more
and more prey that are contaminated. they get that contamination goes into the tissues and when it gets up to the orcas, then that's how they start to deteriorate. They're not as healthy and they're not as fit to not only give birth but also to nurse a newborn, a newborn calf in this situation. I'm not blaming J35 for anything, right? She is just a product of her environment. But that could be one of the reasons, we don't know for sure, but that could be one of the reasons why
J61 passed away. but there is new hope and they're going to be looking at J62 to be that new hope. Hopefully J62 survives. In the meantime we are observing J35 mourning the loss of her young, her second, now called J61 and she's going to be carrying this around for a few weeks and she's going to be showing the world that hey you know what there's something wrong here and my calf has
died because of it. We are doing something wrong. Now there's a lot of people out on social media who are looking at different aspects of what is happening here, the significance of the mourning process. Scientists are looking at this as a mourning process. It's very unique to J35 in this situation that we know of, where she floats
the calf for more than two to three weeks. but you know it's a process and some people are looking into it they're anthropomorphizing it they're making it seem like it's more of human abilities or human characteristics that you know they're mourning this process we don't know exactly why they do it we assume that they're mourning the process the songs that are coming out the noises that are coming out of the orcas seem like it's a somber sort of it's a somber conversation that's that's happening
but and this is how they get over it they're extremely sensitive species and they definitely have that emotional intelligence but we can't look too far into it and we can't get too down in what we see happening right now there are ways that you can mourn there are ways that you can help and i'll put some of the conservation organizations especially the organizations that I've mentioned in here, which is the Orca Whale Research, I believe. What's it called? Sorry, the Center of
Whale Research. And we will find out how you can donate to support this organization in observing not only the southern resident orca population, but other orca populations in the region. to make sure that they're doing well as well. You got to remember these orca populations for the southern residents have had a really traumatizing
past number of decades. Going back to the 1970s where many of them were taken, many of them died in the process of being taken for marine theme parks and they still haven't been put back. A lot of them have died in that process. The big loss was when they took about 50 individuals from
that population. Now there's only 73 left. They've had a really tough time recuperating because of the lack of prey, there's ways to get around that, there's ways to increase the Chinook population, and that is to tear down dams, that is to make sure that pollution is in better control, and that comes to government, that comes putting pressure on government to make better policies. and make sure they follow the policies that they have already. So that's a big thing
that we need to find out when you hear these stories. It's not only that you feel sad for these orcas, but there's action to be taken, and there's action that you can go through organizations like the Center for Whale Research, but also other nonprofit organizations local to the area that have a really good beat on what's happening in that area, what's happening with the policy. They can inform you better, and they can show you where you can put your action into use.
check those out in the links below. That's it for the episode today. Sorry to start off the week with such a bad episode in terms of topic wise, but I feel like it's something that we need to discuss. It's something that needs to be addressed. It's being covered all over the place. And what I, again, what I don't want people to do is just to look at this and be like, oh man, these orca species, they're done for. They're not done for. We can save them. We need to save
them. And you can help by starting by looking at these organizations, finding out more, and just, you know, you already started by looking
at this video and listening. and showing that you can take action and then that's what's necessary on these on these types of topics so check that out in the link below if you want to find out more about not only the orca the southern resident orca population but anything regarding the ocean Make sure you subscribe to this YouTube channel or the Spotify channel, or if you're listening to this on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any of the other favorite podcast apps, please follow, subscribe, and
hit that notification bell where you can so you don't miss an episode. And of course, you can always get in touch with me at HowToProtectTheOcean on Instagram, that's at HowToProtectTheOcean. I want to thank you so much for listening to this episode of the How To Protect The Ocean podcast. I'm your host, Andrew