About 50 orcas from two pods that live in the waters near Washington state’s San Juan Islands have migrated to California’s Monterey Bay, 1,000 miles farther south than they’ve ever been seen before, most likely because salmon in Washington are in such short supply. In the past, the orcas could count on a year-round supply of salmon in the Northwest, but the fish populations are now severely depleted. Meanwhile, bears in British Columbia are starving because sockeye salmon, their main food source, are disappearing. Fewer than 3,400 sockeye returned to River’s Inlet on B.C.’s central coast last year, compared with more than 3 million 30 years ago.
