The Whale Museum: promoting stewardship of whales and the Salish Sea ecosystem through education & research. In the Pacific Northwest of the United States lives the Southern Resident Community of Orcas, an endangered population of orcas, sometimes known as "killer whales". The Whale Museum, located in beautiful Friday Harbor, Washington, opened to the public in 1979 as the first museum in the country devoted to a species living in the wild. Today, our museum continues to promote stewardship of whales and the Salish Sea ecosystem through education and research.