New study reveals most detailed look at what PNW’s orcas eat

SEATTLE, Wash. (AP) — A new study from federal researchers provides the most detailed look yet at what the Pacific Northwest’s endangered orcas eat.

NOAA Fisheries scientists spent years collecting fecal samples from the whales as well as scales from the fish they ate.

They say their data reaffirm the central importance of Chinook salmon to the orcas.

Researchers found that the whales do eat other species sometimes, including halibut, lingcod, and steelhead, but they depend largely on Chinook.

They consume the salmon from a wide range of sources — from those that spawn in California’s Sacramento River all the way to the Taku River in northern B.C.