Submitted by the Orca Network
Orca Network and Washington State Ferries will be hosting an event on board the ferry Tokitae on June 29th to celebrate Toki’s Legacy. The ferry’s name, nominated by Orca Network, honors the Southern Resident orca known as Tokitae, Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut, or Lolita, who was captured from Penn Cove in August of 1970. “Toki,” as she is affectionately remembered, spent 53 years in captivity at Miami Seaquarium in Florida before her death in August 2023. In honor of Tokitae, the whale and the ferry, Orca Network will be present on board the boat on Sunday, June 29, from 12:00 to 4:00 PM. Orca Network and Washington State Ferries have been working together on a commemorative mural of Tokitae and new updated educational panels, which will be unveiled during the event.
“We are proud to partner with Orca Network to honor Tokitae’s memory,” said Captain Curtis Larson. “This tribute to Tokitae will continue to unite all peoples of the Salish Sea as we work towards protecting the environment for all Southern Resident orcas.”
The Tokitae Mural is part of a larger Toki’s Legacy Exhibit at the Langley Whale Center, supported by the Maritime Washington Grant Program. This multimedia project shares information about Toki’s past, the natural history of the Salish Sea, the indigenous people and the orcas who have lived here and plied these waters long before Toki was born, and before the Tokitae Ferry was christened. It also tells the story of the orca captures, of how Toki’s family became endangered, and ties together the importance of salmon to orcas and to the people of the Pacific NW, and what we can do to help.
Following the final sailing of the mural unveiling on the Tokitae ferry, the public is invited to a free community gathering and fundraiser at Clinton Community Hall from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM. Hosted by Orca Network, this event will honor Tokitae’s legacy with guest speakers, educational exhibits, light refreshments, and opportunities to support the organization’s Toki’s Legacy Project, which promotes public education and Southern Resident orca recovery. The gathering aims to be both inspiring and inclusive, using a give-what-you-can donation model to ensure accessibility for all attendees. Registration is free but required, and participants can sign up and find more information at https://givebutter.com/4O9hzJ. This celebration offers a meaningful opportunity for the public to come together in remembrance, learning, and collective action for the future of Tokitae’s endangered family.
“The name Tokitae represents and honors this orca and her family, the Southern Resident orcas who range throughout the Salish Sea and beyond,” said Howard Garrett, co-founder and board chair of Orca Network.
June is Orca Action Month, focusing on the challenges Tokitae’s family face as they continue to swim free in the Salish Sea. At the time the ferry Tokitae entered service, there were 89 Southern Residents left alive. Today, there are only 74. The whales are threatened by lack of Chinook salmon to eat, toxicants in the environment that accumulate in the whales’ bodies, and vessel disturbance. Originally proclaimed by former Governor Christine Gregoire in 2007 and officially proclaimed by the Washington Governor each year since, Orca Action Month seeks to bring together researchers, advocates, and orca enthusiasts to raise awareness of the threats facing these magnificent animals and provide a community to celebrate orcas of the Salish Sea.
“It’s a nice coincidence that Tokitae’s first sailing happened during Orca Action Month, eleven years ago,” said Orca Network co-founder and executive director Susan Berta. “We truly appreciate Washington State Ferries’ continuing partnership in honoring Toki’s legacy and helping to share the stories of Toki and her family.”
Deb Lund, a Whidbey Island author and longtime Toki supporter, asked Orca Network to propose the name for the ferry in 2012, because it symbolizes both the cultural and natural history of Washington. The word Tokitae derives from a Chinook greeting, meaning “nice day, pretty colors.”
In 1970 Dr. Jesse White, a veterinarian employed by the Miami Seaquarium, came to Seattle to select a whale from among seven that had been captured off Whidbey Island that August. According to his daughter Lisa, he bonded with one young female and decided to name her Tokitae, a word he had seen in a gift shop on the Seattle waterfront.
Tokitae died on August 18, 2023, just as significant progress had been made in the decades-long efforts to return her to her home waters in the Salish Sea. Orca Network’s Toki’s Legacy Program celebrates her courageous spirit, her keen intelligence, her engaging personality, and her gentle nature as seen by her willingness to build trusting, insightful and playful friendships with her human companions while enduring decades of stressful, heartbreaking conditions. The program seeks also to promote actions to support Tokitae’s remaining family and inspire the public to help with Southern Resident orca recovery efforts.
In addition to the June 29 event, Orca Network volunteer ferry naturalists will ride on selected ferry routes throughout the summer months, sharing information about Southern Resident orcas and other marine mammals of the Salish Sea. Those interested in volunteering can visit www.orcanetwork.org for more information.
