Orca Sanctuary

Join us in creating the world’s first Orca Embassy — a mobile, student‑operated conservation vessel dedicated to protecting the Southern Resident Killer Whales of the Salish Sea.

These whales are in urgent decline. Their primary food source, Chinook salmon, has collapsed, and long‑term solutions like dam removal and legislative reform are moving too slowly to meet their immediate needs. The Orca Embassy exists to take emergency action.

Aboard a decommissioned Washington State Ferry, students will operate a floating hatchery and temporary feeding station, releasing Chinook salmon strategically throughout the Salish Sea under guidance from Lummi leadership. Remaining mobile allows us to support the whales exactly where they forage, helping stabilize their food availability until larger recovery efforts catch up.

As a student‑run facility, the Embassy will cultivate the next generation of Ocean Stewards, offering hands‑on education about the fragile ecosystems in our own waters.The ship will also serve as a collaborative hub for habitat restoration projects, community partnerships, and marine science initiatives.

Our future phases include developing a refuge for sick, injured, and human‑dependent orcas, including retired captive whales who need long‑term care. Building this living sanctuary will require a diverse team of students, scientists, volunteers, and supporters — the right people to fill the ship and bring the Orca Embassy to life.

Together, we can create a moving beacon of action, education, and hope for the Southern Residents and the Salish Sea.

What Orca Embassy SALISH Is

A nonprofit sanctuary initiative focused on Southern Resident killer whales and other vulnerable cetaceans in Washington waters. Its mission centers on:

• Education & advocacy — teaching the public about orca history, captivity, and conservation.

• Rehabilitation — providing refuge for human‑dependent or retired captive orcas.

• Habitat support — restoring kelp, eelgrass, and salmon populations essential to orca survival.

• Diplomacy for orcas — a symbolic “embassy” concept promoting legal and cultural protection for whales.

Orca Embassy SALISH is operating Ferndale, Cherry Point — and its approach is modular and mobile:

• A retired Washington State Ferry becomes the sanctuary base

• A floating salmon hatchery directly addresses food scarcity

• Education and advocacy can happen immediately

• Habitat restoration can begin without waiting for federal whale‑transfer agreements

• Emergency response for Southern Residents is local and fast

It’s a project built around existing whales in the Salish Sea and worrying about the tanked orca as time allows

The Floating Sanctuary Concept

The centerpiece of the project is a retired Washington State Ferry that would be converted into:

• A sanctuary headquarters

• A floating education center

• A rehabilitation and refuge space for orcas unable to survive fully in the wild

The organization is currently awaiting approval to use a decommissioned ferry and hopes to locate the sanctuary near Cherry Point, Ferndale, WA

One of the most distinctive features is the plan to install a salmon hatchery aboard the sanctuary ferry, creating:

• A temporary feeding station for struggling Southern Residents

• A long‑term source of Chinook salmon (their primary prey)

• A student‑operated hatchery program for hands‑on conservation learning

This approach aims to directly address the whales’ food scarcity crisis.

During periods when Southern Residents are clearly starving, the hatchery could:

• Release salmon directly into their foraging path

• Provide controlled, monitored supplemental feeding

• Reduce mortality during critical shortages

• Support pregnant or nursing females who need extra calories

This is the most controversial — but potentially life-saving — function. This is not meant to replace wild foraging.
It’s meant to prevent deaths during ecological collapse.

A hatchery on a ferry is not just clever — it solves several long-standing problems:

• It can be moved to areas where salmon survival is highest

• It avoids shoreline permitting delays

• It keeps operations close to the whales’ actual habitat

• It allows rapid deployment during emergency food shortages

This mobility is something land-based hatcheries simply cannot do

The hatchery is also designed as a student-operated conservation program, meaning:

• Local schools (Ferndale, Blaine, Lummi Nation) can participate

• Students learn marine biology, hatchery science, and Salish Sea ecology

• The region builds a new generation of salmon and orca stewards

This is how you create durable, community-rooted conservation..

Southern Residents rely on Chinook salmon for 80–90% of their diet. When Chinook runs collapse, the whales starve.

A hatchery aboard a retired Washington State Ferry can:

• Increase Chinook availability during critical shortages

• Provide supplemental feeding during low-return years

• Support juvenile salmon survival with controlled rearing

• Reduce the whales’ need to travel long distances searching for food

This is not about “feeding captive whales.”
It’s about keeping wild whales alive.

Habitat Restoration

The sanctuary partners with local groups to restore:

• Endangered sea grasses

• Kelp forests

• Broader nearshore ecosystems essential for salmon and orca recovery

These efforts help rebuild the ecological foundation of the Salish Sea.

The hatchery isn’t just about producing fish — it’s part of a larger ecological strategy:

• Rebuilding eelgrass and kelp forests

• Supporting nearshore juvenile salmon habitat

• Coordinating with tribal fisheries and restoration groups

• Monitoring water quality and salmon migration patterns

Healthy salmon = healthy orcas.
Healthy habitat = healthy salmon.

Research & monitoring

The hatchery also becomes a floating research platform:

• Tracking salmon genetics

• Monitoring disease and parasites

• Studying whale feeding behavior

• Testing micro‑habitat restoration strategies

• Providing real-time data to NOAA, tribes, and universities

This is the kind of data the region has needed for decades.

• Preserve the remaining orca population in Washington State.

• Offer retirement and rehabilitation areas for human dependent animals

• Create a place of refuge and purpose for all

• Use our position for the greater good of the community