(upbeat music) - I'm Starla Sampaco in the Crosscut KCTS 9 newsroom.

Washington has launched a program to cut underwater noise in Puget Sound.

That's important because endangered Southern resident orcas have been struggling to hear and to be heard.

These marine mammals rely on sound to navigate, find food, and communicate in a dark seascape.

The start of the pandemic turned down the volume on the usual cacophony of ships and boats and marine life responded, their clicks, whistles, and calls suddenly traveling farther.

A new collaborative program called Quiet Sound wants to maintain that slow down in noise pollution.

Quiet Sound is preparing several voluntary initiatives, from a potential seasonal slowdown zone for commercial vessels to app-based technology to notify ship operators of nearby orcas.

The program has more than $800,000 in funding for the next couple of years.

I'm Starla Sampaco.

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