Southern Resident report for 2022: Orcas return to Salish Sea in summer, but worries remain

FRIDAY HARBOR, Washington—After five summers of mostly being absent, the maybe-now-inappropriately-named Southern Resident orcas returned to their traditional summer habitat in 2022: not entirely or even robustly, by any means, but much more frequently than in the preceding half-decade.

It was enough to raise hope that the Chinook salmon runs coming out of British Columbia’s Fraser River are finally starting to recover—after flatlining in 2016 and for the next four years—enough to bring the orcas who feed on them back to their traditional Salish Sea summer feeding grounds. And for the most part, signs are generally positive—though there are some distinct clouds in the picture.