Seven orca whales that regularly visit the waters off British Columbia are feared dead, and scientists believe that the mammals starved to death.
About 200 orcas used to inhabit the area between B.C.'s lower mainland and southern Vancouver Island. But the population was measured at only 90 last year, and this year only 83 whales were counted.
Scientists believe a shortage of chinook salmon on the southwestern cost - the orca's choice of food - directly led to the mammal's starving to death.
The chinook salmon are at about 10 per cent of their historic numbers.
Experts are pessimistic about the orca's chance of survival in southern B.C.
"It's going to be hard for these guys to climb out of the hole," biologist Lance Barrett-Lennard told CTV News. "It's a big loss. Some of the animals that were lost were reproductive females and that makes it worse.
"That really reduces the potential of the population to survive."
The orcas were listed as an endangered species by U.S. authorities in November of 2005.
Orcas are picky eaters and won't follow the salmon south.
Some environmental groups are suing the government to put some salmon aside for the whales.
