Tag Archives: Southern Resident Orca
Letter: Lawsuit wrongly accuses salmon trollers
In the fall and winter, you can find me in Eastern Washington, working on building a new 50-foot salmon troller. Every year when June 20th comes, I trek north to my second home, southeast Alaska. From July to September, I can be found commercial fishing on a 40-foot salmon troller out of Sitka, Alaska. I’m not the only one who migrates every summer to southeast Alaska to make my living; other residents in Eastern Washington also head to Alaska to participate in this iconic salmon fishery. This summer is different though. Hundreds of other fishermen and I are left not knowing if we’ll have an income this year due to Wild Fish Conservancy’s attack on small-boat family fishermen through its misguided lawsuit,,, >click to read and comment<14:47
Sea lions, seals might be hampering WA salmon recovery. What can be done?
State officials are now exploring whether to kill sea lions and seals in the Salish Sea and outer coast in a desperate effort to save salmon species from extinction. A new report commissioned by the state Legislature and completed by the Washington Academy of the Sciences says seals and sea lions are likely impeding salmon recovery, and the full impacts of predation on salmon may not be fully understood without lethal intervention. Three mammals specifically have skyrocketed. From 1975 to 2015, the harbor seal population in the Salish Sea exploded from about 6,000 to around 50,000. And California sea lions rose from 50,000 to somewhere around 300,000 on the West Coast of the U.S., according to the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. Populations of Steller’s sea lions living around Washington, Oregon and California steadily rose from an estimated 15,000 in 1982 to more than 43,000 in 2019. >click to read< 09:14
Whale News – Rare right whale last seen in Cape Cod Bay spotted in Iceland, Southern resident Orca calf dies soon after birth
A right whale last seen off Marshfield has turned up in Iceland. An Icelandic whale watch tour spotted the critically endangered mammal on Monday. Mogul, the 10-year-old male North Atlantic right whale, was last seen in Cape Cod Bay April 21. >click to read< Mogul the right whale’s appearance off Iceland puzzles scientist >click to read< Meanwhile, The first calf born in three years to the endangered orcas that spend time in Pacific Northwest waters died Tuesday – >click to read< Alexandra Morton Press release – Baby Orca death could be linked to salmon farm virus >click to read< NOAA prioritizing West Coast Chinook salmon stocks for Southern Resident killer whale recovery >click to read<09:27
The ‘Soul’ of the Pacific Northwest is dying of starvation
“I believe we have orcas in our soul in this state.” Those were the words of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee earlier this year after forming the Southern Resident Orca Task Force, an initiative meant to keep endangered killer whales alive in the region. Scientists point to a number of factors for the dwindling number of orcas in the region, including pollution, both old and new sources, that accumulate in their primary prey, Chinook salmon. This pollution gets stored in the orca’s fatty tissues, suppressing their immune system and making the whales more susceptible to disease… “It’s an ecosystem-wide problem,” Hanson said. “Things are out of whack and we have to get them back to where we can sustain killer whales. And the clock is ticking.” >click to read<18:00
