Dear Editor:

The Orcas of Puget Sound are dying.

This tells us the overall watershed ecosystem is in steep decline. From algae to bait fish to salmon to orcas, from mountain stream to deep sea canyon,

Puget Sound is losing its vigor and beauty. Washington's Southern Resident Orcas cannot remain healthy in a sick habitat.

Salmon runs are so few and far between that the orcas are often starving. Our priority must be to restore the salmon runs. The Southern Resident orcas have based their foraging strategies, their social and family systems, and their relationships with other communities of orcas, on their specialized diet of salmon.

Scientists believe the Southern Residents Orcas are often hungry due to long periods between salmon runs.

Lack of salmon weakens the whales' immune systems and flushes toxic PCB's out of body fats and into blood circulation. There the toxins find their way to glands, where they mimic hormones, disrupting early development and immune responses.

It is also believed that lack of salmon leads orcas to forage on more highly contaminated bottom fish.

As a society, we must prevent further degradation of salmon habitat, and promote restoration of rivers, streams, wetlands and shorelines.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has classified PCBs as a probable human carcinogen, so there is little doubt that PCBs also cause cancer in orcas.

Sediments and dump sites loaded with PCBs are damaging the orcas' immune, reproductive and neurological systems. The Removal of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and other Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins (PBTs) from landfills and sediments must be expedited.

Scientists know that PCBs build up in the body over a lifetime; however, the potential health effects are not well known. Animal studies have shown that PCBs can affect the reproductive and immune systems. Toxic waste needs to be cleaned up or stabilized, and any new sources need to be stopped from entering the food chain.

In their weakened condition, the orcas are extremely vulnerable to a catastrophic oil spill.

Risks are multiplying along with increased ship traffic, and the Southern Resident orcas could be decimated by a single spill in a matter of days. We need strict oil spill prevention legislation.

Thank you.

Respectfully,

[your name]