Home of Southern Resident Orcas Named a Mission Blue Hope Spot
WDC is proud to be among the groups supporting the declaration of the Salish Sea, a body of water between Washington State and British Columbia and the home waters of the Southern Resident orcas, as a Mission Blue Hope Spot.
Our friends at SeaLife Response, Rehabilitation, and Research (SR3) in Seattle nominated the Salish Sea, and Mission Blue officially declared this unique body of water a Hope Spot this year.
The Salish Sea is home to an incredible diversity of life – not only the Southern Resident orcas, who frequent the area in the summer and fall – but the salmon the orcas feed on, the North Pacific giant octopus, seals and sea lions, and rebounding populations of harbor porpoises and humpback whales.
Help us further protect this important home for Southern Resident orcas.
Hope Spots are identified by Mission Blue as areas of the ocean that are vital to its health. They’re special places that are in need of additional protection, but are considered Hope Spots because of their remarkable potential for recovery. For the Salish Sea, human impacts have caused a lot of negative change to the ecosystem, represented most significantly by gravely endangered Southern Resident orcas. But the problems have solutions: we can restore habitat, improve water quality, and quiet the waters.
Protection of the Salish Sea can benefit the entire ecosystem, including the people who share its waters, and inspire new policies, activities, and our connections to the rivers and streams in the area.
We hope that this declaration also brings together all those who care about this special place. The Salish Sea will need many voices, from the Tribes who have called this area home for millennia to those just now falling in love with its rocky shores and deep blue waters, to protect it for generations to come.
Another way to help is by sharing this on social media!
