NOAA starts review of endangered Southern Resident orcas

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service says it’s starting a five-year status review of the Southern Resident orcas.

[DOWNLOAD: Free KIRO 7 News app for alerts as news breaks]

The Skagit Valley Herald reports National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries published a notice in the Federal Register about the status review last week.

The whales were listed as endangered in 2005 under the federal Endangered Species Act. Since the 1990s, the number of orcas in the three family groups - called J, K and L pods - that make up the population has dropped from the high 90s into the 70s.

The orcas, also called killer whales, live along the West Coast and frequent the Salish Sea.