Critical Habitat Orders

Critical Habitat of the Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) Northeast Pacific Southern Resident Population Order

Two distinct populations of Resident Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) occupy the waters off the Pacific coast of Canada: the Northeast Pacific Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) population and the Northeast Pacific Northern Resident Killer Whale (NRKW) population. Although the ranges of these two populations overlap, they are acoustically, culturally, and genetically distinct from each other. As of November 2018, the SRKW population consisted of 74 individuals in one acoustic clan while the NRKW population consisted of approximately 309 individuals in three acoustic clans. Both populations feed primarily on salmonids, specializing on chinook and chum.

File(s)

• HTML version of "Critical Habitat of the Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) Northeast Pacific Southern Resident Population Order: SOR/2018-278"
• "Critical Habitat of the Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) Northeast Pacific Southern Resident Population Order: SOR/2018-278" (2018-12-26) (PDF format, 3,142.76 KB)

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Contact Person(s)

Director
SARA Directorate
Department of Fisheries and Oceans
200 Kent St.
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0E6
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Related Species

• Killer Whale  (Northeast Pacific southern resident population)

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