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The Southern Resident population is threatened by a decline in numbers of Chinook salmon, a key component of their diet, as well as increasing pollution and boat disturbances in the Salish Sea, which encompasses Puget Sound, according to the U.S.

Spaal’ the Raven and Smuy the little deer are neighbors who live next to the Salish Sea.

Ben Goldfarb, a nature journalist who is currently writing a book about fish, noted that dams still affect the orcas that inhabit the Salish Sea off Washington state and British Columbia.

The summer chum are in many ways the low-hanging fruit: They tend to spawn lower in rivers and streams and they emerge from freshwater early in the year when food is more bountiful in the wider Salish sea and Pacific Ocean.

The remaining heavy oil tends to sink, making cleanup unlikely in the Salish Sea’s deep straits.