Washington State Marine Mammal: Killer Whale, Blackfish (historic)

Representative Appleton and numerous co-sponsors introduced House Bill 1759 in January 2004 at the second-graders' request. The bill proposed designating the orca as Washington's official marine mammal to promote orca awareness and encourage protection of natural marine habitat. Despite the students' compelling advocacy and widespread public support, the legislative session ended before the bill could advance through both chambers. Rather than accepting defeat, the students and their supporters persisted. The bill was reintroduced in the 2005 legislative session. This time, the legislation successfully navigated the House and Senate. On June 24, 2005, Governor Christine Gregoire signed the bill at a ceremony celebrating the Crescent Harbor Elementary students whose dedication had brought the orca designation from classroom project to state law. The two-year campaign taught the young advocates valuable lessons about democratic participation, persistence in the face of setbacks, and the power of citizen engagement.

The 2005 legislation included specific findings explaining why Washington should designate the orca as its marine mammal. The legislature noted that many people visit Washington specifically to watch orcas, making them economically important for tourism. The bill acknowledged that the orca is a significant symbol for Native American culture throughout the Pacific Northwest. Legislators recognized that pods of orcas migrate annually through Puget Sound, making them an integral part of Washington's marine environment. The law emphasized that orcas are easily recognizable because of their distinctive black and white markings. Most importantly, the legislature declared its intent to promote orca awareness and encourage protection of the natural marine habitat by designating the orca as Washington's official marine mammal. This purpose statement made the designation more than symbolic—it represented a commitment to conservation and education benefiting one of the world's most intensively studied marine mammal populations.

The orca designation joined several other Washington state symbols proposed and promoted by students. In 1951, children voted for the willow goldfinch as state bird after the legislature decided to leave the final choice to school children. A third-grade class at Boston Harbor Grade School in North Olympia demonstrated excellent knowledge about the political process when proposing a state symbol, incorporating science, research, and art into their project. Students from Kent Elementary School brought the green darner dragonfly proposal to the legislature, with participation from over 100 school districts statewide selecting the beneficial insect also known as the 'mosquito hawk.' This tradition of student involvement in selecting state symbols reflects Washington's commitment to civic education and youth engagement in government processes, including Washington's state bird designation. The orca designation stands out among these efforts for the second-graders' extraordinary persistence through a two-year campaign, their sophisticated understanding of conservation issues, and their successful navigation of setbacks when their first bill failed to pass.

In Northwest Coast traditions, the orca is known as the Lord of the Ocean, ruling the underwater realm with seals as slaves and dolphins as warriors. Orcas are believed to protect those who travel away from home on ocean voyages and lead them safely back when the time comes. When orcas appear offshore, some tribes interpret their presence as deceased humans or chiefs attempting to communicate with loved ones. This protective symbolism made orcas especially significant for fishing communities depending on safe ocean travel. The orca's power and dominion over the sea inspired both reverence and respect, shaping fishing practices, ceremonial traditions, and spiritual beliefs. Catching sight of an orca is considered a momentous omen, a message from the spirit world deserving careful attention and interpretation.

Orcas symbolize the strength of love and family bonds because of their remarkable social structure. The entire pod—a large family group—normally stays together for life, working cooperatively to feed and raise young. Female orcas lead matrilines containing descendants from up to three generations. This matrilineal society mirrors some Indigenous kinship structures and demonstrates values of family loyalty, cooperation, and intergenerational responsibility. Orcas are known to mate for life, making them symbols of romance and committed partnership. Indigenous peoples observed that orcas care for sick or injured pod members, share food, and teach hunting techniques to calves—behaviors reflecting human values of compassion, generosity, and education. These parallels between orca and human social structures reinforced the belief that orcas are people living under the water rather than animals fundamentally different from humans.

Many Northwest Coast cultures call orcas 'sea wolves' and believe they are closely related to wolves, possibly physical manifestations of the same spirit. Both wolves and orcas are renowned for hunting skills, strength, intelligence, compassion, and devotion. Some legends claim that orcas originated from a single great white wolf that leaped into the sea and transformed into a killer whale—explaining their white markings, pack behavior, and hunting prowess. Other stories suggest orcas can come onto dry land as wolves to explore the terrestrial world. One legend recounts how the orca's white markings appeared when a killer whale fell in love with an osprey. The whale would jump from the water to be closer to the osprey, who would fly lower to meet the whale. Their child was born black like the whale but with white markings from the osprey. These transformation stories emphasize the interconnection between land and sea, animals and humans, physical and spiritual realms.

Killer whale is a common crest symbol among many Northwest Coast groups, passed down through families with varying meanings depending on context and association with specific nations, clans, or families. In Haida oral traditions, Raven-Finned Killer Whale is a whale-chief characterized by a raven-headed dorsal fin. Haida art depicts two-, three-, and even five-finned killer whales—supernatural figures possibly originating from sightings of whale pods surfacing with multiple dorsal fins visible above water. In Northwest Coast art, orcas are typically depicted with long snub-nosed heads, elongated nostrils, wide toothy mouths, blowholes, pectoral fins, tails, and prominent dorsal fins. Artists may show orcas with human figures on their dorsal fins or captured by thunderbirds. Multi-finned orcas indicate divine entity status. These artistic traditions continue in contemporary Indigenous art, jewelry, and cultural expressions throughout the Pacific Northwest, maintaining connections to ancestral knowledge and spiritual beliefs.

Indigenous communities continue exercising leadership in orca conservation and recovery efforts. The Lummi Nation waged a years-long campaign to return Tokitae (renamed Lolita by captors) from Miami Seaquarium to her home waters in the Salish Sea to reunite with her mother. Tokitae was captured at Penn Cove in 1970 as a four-year-old during brutal roundups that decimated Southern Resident populations. The Lummi refer to the orca recovery effort as 'a fight for their relatives' and 'our sacred obligation.' This language reflects the literal kinship Indigenous peoples feel with orcas rather than metaphorical concern for endangered species. Governor Jay Inslee acknowledged this deep connection: 'I believe we have orcas in our soul in this state.' Indigenous knowledge about orca behaviors, locations, seasonal patterns, and population dynamics—accumulated over thousands of years—provides essential information for conservation planning. Protecting orcas requires listening to Indigenous communities' leadership and incorporating traditional ecological knowledge alongside Western scientific research.

The Southern Resident population comprises three family groups designated J, K, and L pods. These fish-eating orcas prey primarily on Chinook salmon, with chum and coho salmon consumed during certain seasons. Individual animals are identified by numbers based on pod membership and birth order, allowing researchers to track family relationships, survival rates, and population trends over decades. Southern Residents spend several months each summer and fall in Puget Sound, making them the most visible and studied killer whale population in the world. The population has shown an overall declining trend since 1995, falling from 98 individuals to 73 as of December 2021. This dangerous decline led to federal endangered species listing in 2005, state endangered designation in 2004, and depleted status under the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 2003. The National Marine Fisheries Service designated most of the U.S. portion of the Salish Sea as critical habitat for Southern Residents in 2006. Three primary threats limit population recovery: reduced availability of Chinook salmon (their primary prey), elevated marine contaminants accumulated in tissues, and noise and disturbance from vessel traffic interfering with echolocation and communication.

Transient killer whales form a single population ranging from southeastern Alaska to California. Unlike Southern Residents, Transients feed primarily on marine mammals including harbor seals, Steller sea lions, California sea lions, Dall's porpoises, harbor porpoises, and Pacific white-sided dolphins. They occasionally kill large whales including gray whale calves and minke whales. Recent evidence suggests squid may also comprise significant portions of Transient diets. Transients use primarily click-like vocalizations and harsh screaming sounds to frighten and trap prey when hunting, rather than the complex calls Residents use. They are characterized by more shark-like dorsal fins, larger size, solid gray saddle patches, and larger eye spots compared to Residents. In contrast to the endangered Southern Residents, the West Coast Transient population has shown considerable growth since the 1970s in response to recovery of their marine mammal prey base. The population is now estimated at more than 500 individuals and is near carrying capacity—representing one of the few North American killer whale populations currently thriving rather than declining.

Offshore killer whales form one population extending from southeastern Alaska to California. These whales usually occur more than nine miles off the outer coast and are much less studied than Residents or Transients. The population is estimated at approximately 300 individuals with a stable population trend. Offshore orcas appear to prey mainly on sharks, with Pacific sleeper sharks comprising a significant portion of their diet. Confirmed prey species include mako, thresher, sevengill, and on rare occasions, great white sharks. The first recorded instance of orca predation on great white sharks in 1997 may have involved an offshore whale. The teeth of Offshore orcas are usually quite worn down and often blunt—substantially more than Residents or Transients—which biologists have linked to consuming sharks with tough, abrasive skin. This dental wear may potentially shorten their lifespans. Offshore orcas rarely enter the Salish Sea, though the area immediately offshore including the Barkley submarine canyon is home to large numbers. While they face lower immediate conservation threats than Southern Residents, Offshore populations remain vulnerable to oil spills, marine contaminants, and climate change impacts on shark populations.

Southern Resident orcas are specialists on Chinook salmon, which comprises the majority of their diet year-round. Studies analyzing prey remains and observing feeding behavior show that Chinook salmon—particularly large, fatty adults—provides essential nutrition for orca survival and reproduction. The problem: Chinook salmon populations throughout the Pacific Northwest have declined dramatically due to habitat loss, dams blocking spawning grounds, overfishing, hatchery impacts, and climate change. Southern Residents face a food crisis during periods when Chinook runs are weak, forcing them to expend more energy searching for limited prey while receiving inadequate nutrition. Pregnant and nursing females are especially vulnerable during poor salmon years. The connection between salmon abundance and orca population health is well-documented: years with good Chinook returns see improved orca survival and reproduction, while years with poor returns often lead to deaths and reproductive failures. Climate change threatens to further reduce Chinook populations through altered freshwater habitat, changes in marine food webs, and rising sea levels impacting nearshore areas salmon require. Recovering Southern Residents requires recovering Chinook salmon throughout their range from California to British Columbia.

All three orca ecotypes in Washington carry heavy loads of environmental contaminants accumulated from prey. Persistent organic pollutants including PCBs, flame retardants, and other industrial chemicals biomagnify up the food chain, reaching highest concentrations in apex predators like orcas. Southern Residents carry among the highest contaminant loads of any marine mammal population worldwide. These chemicals accumulate in fat tissue and are released during periods when orcas use stored energy reserves—particularly during pregnancy and nursing for females and during poor prey availability for all individuals. Contaminants suppress immune systems, reduce reproductive success, and may increase vulnerability to disease. First-time mothers transfer huge contaminant loads to first calves through milk, often resulting in calf death. Older females who have transferred contaminants through multiple pregnancies show higher reproductive success because they carry lower body burdens. Sources of marine contamination include historical industrial discharge, ongoing urban runoff, legacy pollutants persisting in sediments, and atmospheric deposition. Reducing contaminant inputs requires addressing pollution sources throughout the Salish Sea watershed.

The Salish Sea experiences intense vessel traffic including commercial shipping, recreational boating, and whale-watching operations. Noise from vessels interferes with orcas' ability to echolocate for prey and communicate with pod members. Studies show that vessel noise reduces the distance over which orcas can detect salmon using echolocation, forcing them to expend more energy searching in noisier conditions. Physical presence of vessels disrupts feeding and resting behaviors. Whale-watching boats—while economically important and potentially building public support for conservation—can inadvertently harm the whales through cumulative disturbance effects. Washington implemented new whale-watching regulations including increased distance requirements (300 yards for endangered Southern Residents), no-go zones around resting areas, and speed restrictions. Enforcement remains challenging. Large commercial vessels transiting Puget Sound create additional risks including potential strikes and the threat of major oil spills. The 2018 incident when orca J-35 (Tahlequah) carried her dead calf for 17 days drew international attention to Southern Residents' plight, highlighting how few births succeed in current conditions. Reducing vessel impacts requires balancing economic activities with orca recovery needs.

Climate change will likely impact all three orca ecotypes through alterations in prey abundance. For Southern Residents, climate change threatens Chinook salmon through multiple pathways: changes in marine food webs affecting salmon growth and survival at sea, alterations in freshwater habitats salmon require for spawning and rearing (increased water temperatures, reduced snowpack affecting stream flows, more frequent droughts), and rising sea levels potentially submerging or rendering unsuitable some nearshore areas juvenile salmon need. For Transients, climate change may affect availability of harbor seals and other pinnipeds through changes in their prey fish populations and potential loss of traditional rookeries and haulouts to sea level rise. For Offshore orcas feeding on sharks, climate-driven changes in shark populations and distributions could impact food availability. Ocean acidification—increased acidity from absorbed atmospheric CO2—may affect entire marine food webs supporting orca prey species. Warmer ocean temperatures could shift prey distributions northward, forcing orcas to expand ranges or adapt to new prey. These climate impacts compound existing threats from prey depletion, contaminants, and vessel disturbance.

SeaWorld and other marine parks conducted orca captures in Washington and British Columbia waters throughout the 1960s and 1970s, with Penn Cove operations representing the most intensive and destructive roundups. Capture teams used aircraft to locate pods, then deployed speedboats with explosives to herd terrified whales into Penn Cove's shallow waters. Once trapped, divers selected young orcas for capture—typically juveniles between 4-8 years old considered ideal for captivity training. Selected orcas were separated from families, hoisted into slings, and transported to holding facilities. The remaining pod members would often refuse to leave their captured family members, calling and circling for hours or days. Five orcas died during Penn Cove operations—some drowned in nets, others from stress. Capture operators reportedly weighted dead orcas' bodies with anchors and chains and sank them in deep water to hide evidence. When decomposing bodies later washed ashore, public outrage intensified. Local residents witnessed orca families being torn apart, heard their distress vocalizations, and understood the cruelty inflicted on these intelligent, social animals.

In 1976, Ralph Monroe, an aide to Governor Dan Evans, personally witnessed a particularly cruel capture attempt in Puget Sound. Seeing the orcas in obvious distress and observing the brutal methods used, Monroe immediately acted to stop the capture. He phoned Governor Evans, who filed a federal restraining order against SeaWorld forbidding them from taking any additional whales from Washington waters. After a legal battle, all orca captures in Washington came to an end in 1976. British Columbia ended captures in 1977. While orca captures continued in other regions like Iceland well into the 1980s, the Pacific Northwest captures ceased. An economic hardship exemption clause in Washington regulations had previously allowed SeaWorld to continue captures despite growing opposition. The 1976 restraining order and subsequent legal prohibitions finally ended the practice. The capture era's legacy persists in severely reduced Southern Resident population size, lost genetic diversity, disrupted social structures, and generational trauma inflicted on pods that witnessed family members taken or killed.

Tokitae was captured at Penn Cove on August 8, 1970 as a four-year-old, then renamed Lolita by Miami Seaquarium where she was sold. She spent more than five decades in captivity, performing in shows in a tank many considered inadequate for an orca measuring over 20 feet. The Lummi Nation considers Tokitae a relative and has led efforts demanding her return to Salish Sea home waters to reunite with her mother, believed to still be alive in L pod. The campaign involved protests, lawsuits, public education, and coalition-building with animal welfare organizations, faith communities, and conservation groups. An exhibit at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville tells her story. The Lummi's language is clear: this is 'a fight for their relatives' and 'our sacred obligation'—not metaphorical concern but literal kinship responsibility. Despite years of effort, legal obstacles, financial barriers, and concerns about Tokitae's ability to survive in the wild after decades in captivity prevented her return. Her story symbolizes both the historical trauma inflicted on Southern Residents through captures and the deep connection Indigenous peoples maintain with orcas as spiritual relatives deserving dignity and freedom.

Penn Cove and other Pacific Northwest captures between 1965-1977 removed dozens of Southern Resident orcas during their most productive reproductive years. Population estimates suggest Southern Residents numbered perhaps 200 individuals before captures began. By the mid-1970s after captures ended, the population had crashed to approximately 71 individuals. While captures were not the only factor contributing to decline (pollution, prey depletion, and vessel traffic also played roles), the removal of so many young orcas devastated the population's reproductive potential and genetic diversity. Captures preferentially targeted juveniles and young adults, removing individuals before they could reproduce and stripping pods of their future breeding stock. The trauma inflicted on remaining pod members likely affected their health and reproductive success. Southern Residents have never fully recovered from capture-era impacts. The population briefly rebounded to 98 individuals by 1995 but has since declined again to 73 by 2021. The capture legacy reminds us that human actions can push marine mammal populations to brink of extinction and that recovery from such devastation requires sustained effort over generations.

Washington's territorial motto 'Alki' (or Al-ki), a Chinook word meaning 'bye and bye' or 'into the future,' embodies patient hope and determination. The motto originated when early settlers named their Alki Point settlement 'New York-Alki' — meaning New York into the future or bye and bye—expressing optimistic belief that their small settlement would someday rival the great eastern city. This forward-looking patience perfectly captures the spirit behind orca designation and conservation. Southern Resident recovery will not happen quickly or easily. It requires sustained commitment over decades—bye and bye—to restore Chinook salmon runs, reduce marine contaminants, manage vessel traffic, and address climate change. The second-graders who championed orca designation understood this long-term perspective. Their two-year legislative campaign demonstrated patience and persistence. The motto 'Alki' reminds Washingtonians that some goals worth achieving require faith in the future and willingness to work toward outcomes we may not see realized in our lifetimes but that will benefit generations to come.

The orca designation represents successful student-led civic engagement, joining other Washington symbols proposed by children. The willow goldfinch became state bird after schoolchildren voted in 1951. Boston Harbor Grade School third-graders proposed a state symbol demonstrating knowledge about political processes. Kent Elementary School students initiated the green darner dragonfly designation with participation from over 100 school districts statewide. These examples demonstrate Washington's tradition of involving young people in selecting symbols and teaching democratic participation, which also appears in the long civic story behind the Washington state flag. The Crescent Harbor Elementary second-graders' two-year orca campaign stands out for its sophistication, persistence through setbacks, and focus on conservation rather than merely selecting an attractive symbol. The students understood that designation meant more than recognition—it represented commitment to protecting orcas and marine habitat. This civic education produced informed, engaged citizens who experienced firsthand how government works, how citizens can influence policy, and how persistence can overcome obstacles. The orca designation teaches current and future students that their voices matter, that young people can effect change, and that protecting what they love requires active participation in democratic processes.