All In: A Year of Daily Swims for Endangered Orcas

These orcas are not just wildlife. There are families. They pass down language, culture, and knowledge from grandmother to calf. They grieve their dead, and they stay together for life.”

On a soggy Sunday, Jan. 11, sisters Annie and Emma Stafki met at Owen Beach in Tacoma’s Point Defiance Park. Wearing matching orca-patterned swimsuits, the sisters were about to hit a milestone: day 100 of their yearlong, daily swim campaign to raise awareness for the endangered Southern Resident Orcas.

They weren’t alone. Over 200 people came to support them, and more than half of the crowd peeled off their layers. “Day 100!” everyone shouted.

The sisters’ yearlong, daily swim campaign began in early October 2025. Since then, they have been filming their daily dips and posting them with stories and facts about the Southern Residents. If you’re going to advocate for the 74 Southern Resident orcas, it makes sense to get into the waters they call home.

“We wanted our advocacy to be visible, and impossible to ignore, and something that reflected the urgency of what the Southern Resident orcas are facing,” Emma said. “Cold water plunging requires showing up even when it is uncomfortable, which felt like a powerful parallel to long-term conservation work.”

Part of the campaign has included reaching out to local swim and plunging groups, some of which are featured in their daily videos. Those videos have built a devoted following amongst cold water and animal lovers alike. Annie is known for her joyful bellyflops, and the videos are infectious. “Don’t let us freeze for nothing!” the sisters call out in one as they emerge from the water.

On the day of the event, some plungers had come from as far as Olympia and Port Townsend to join in the festivities.

“We have plunged with an incredible mix of people and groups, from seasoned cold water swimmers to those taking their very first dip,” Annie said. “The community that has formed around this has been one of the most meaningful parts of the project.”

Before shedding layers and getting in the water, the sisters stood before the attentive crowd and gave a somber overview of what is at stake.

“If we act now for the Southern Residents, we can save them, but they need action,” Emma told the crowd. “These orcas are not just wildlife. There are families. They pass down language, culture, and knowledge from grandmother to calf. They grieve their dead, and they stay together for life, and since time immemorial, they have been an essential part of the ecosystem and cultural identity of the Pacific Northwest.”

“Every birth is celebrated, and every death is devastating,” Annie said. She highlighted the one truth that scientists and advocacy groups are all up against: the Southern Residents are a “population that does not have the luxury of time.”

Born and raised on the Key Peninsula, the sisters are not new to advocacy. In 2024, they made a documentary film “Echoes of the Sound,” about the young Southern Resident orca Hugo, who was taken from Vaughn Bay in the late 1960s and sold to the Miami Seaquarium. They’ve taken those filmmaking skills and now translated them into shorter videos, which they share on social media. Emma said, “By mixing humor with action and education, especially on Instagram, we have found that people are more likely to stop, watch, learn, and share.”

Through their efforts, the sisters are currently fundraising for the Center for Whale Research. They also outline action items on their website, myactionscount.org, including emailing local representatives to support salmon recovery, joining a local beach cleanup, and taking the Quiet Sound Boater Pledge.

Today, there are three main threats to the orcas: vessel noise, pollution, and lack of food.

“Vessel noise can be loud enough that it can mask the orca’s ability to echolocate, so making sure you are following the Whale Wise (NOAA) guidelines can ensure that the Southern Resident Orcas are able to hunt and communicate,” Emma said. Additional action steps include not using harmful chemicals on lawns and in gardens that can end up in Puget Sound.

An even bigger goal is also supporting the removal of the Lower Snake River Dams, an ongoing effort by tribes, scientists, and conservation groups since the early 1990s. The Columbia-Snake River Basin was once one of the more productive salmon-producing rivers in the world, but since the 1950s, wild salmon populations in the river have plummeted. According to the advocacy group Save Our Wild Salmon, all species of chinook salmon on the Columbia-Snake are listed as endangered or extinct. Eighty percent of the Southern Residents’ diet is chinook salmon. Without enough food to eat, the orcas will go hungry, and dam removal has been deemed an essential part of ensuring orca survival.

As the sisters keep plunging, they keep immersing themselves in the science and the stories of the watershed that they call home, in particular, swimming in places that are meaningful to the Southern Residents.

“We are especially interested in locations with strong ecological, cultural, or historical ties to the orcas, and continuing to pair the swims with education and storytelling,” Annie said. “And of course more bellyflops and laughs!”