BREMERTON, Wash. — Several orcas were spotted in Puget Sound early Wednesday.
A ferry employee captured video of at least six orcas swimming past the 6:20 a.m. sailing from Bremerton to Seattle. The ferry stopped and killed the engines when the killer whales swam past.
Orca Network said at least one orca has been positively identified as a member of the J Pod.
And this wasn't the first sighting of the week.
Other sightings of the whales near Alki Beach and Bainbridge Island were reported to Orca Network on Wednesday.
Last week, a pod of Southern Resident killer whales were spotted jumping through the waves near Bainbridge Island.
The Southern Resident population is the lowest since the end of the live capture era in Washington waters in 1976.
The whales have been on the outer coast all summer, including an unprecedented two-month absence from their summer habitat in the inner Salish Sea, including the San Juan Islands.
Spring and summer Chinook salmon runs have been so low the whales had not bothered to come into Puget Sound.