Orca News
News, updates and events about the Southern Resident orcas,
orcas worldwide, and their habitats
Bush signs Wild Sky Wilderness into law
May 9, 2008 (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
For the first time in more than two decades, Washington state is getting a new wilderness area because President Bush signed legislation Thursday to protect more than 106,000 acres of forests and streams in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
Wild Sky also is unique in the type of land it protects -- low-elevation old-growth forests and 25 miles of salmon-bearing streams. Roughly one-third of the area that will be protected consists of lands under 3,000 feet -- making it easy for hikers and hunters to use.
For environmentalists in Washington state, the next project may be an expansion of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area east of Seattle. Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., has introduced legislation that would add roughly 22,000 acres to Alpine Lakes so that it includes the Pratt River Valley on the west side of the wilderness area.
Out-of-court agreement reached in sea lion case
May 7, 2008 (AP)
The Humane Society of the United States has reached agreement with state and federal governments that blocks killing or permanent removal of sea lions in the Columbia River until early 2009.
State and federal governments would be allowed to move sea lions temporarily, brand them for identification and return them to their original habitats.
Gray whale dies on beach
May 6, 2008 (The Daily World)
A whale that beached near Copalis Spit Saturday died. Now researchers will try to find out why.
According to a clam digger who saw the whale Saturday and Sunday, the gray whale is about 26 feet long. That’s not particularly large for a gray whale, Olympia resident Rowland Thompson observed. He added that the whale was alive Saturday afternoon.
The next step is to figure out what happened to the whale, and that will likely fall to Cascadia Research, a non-profit group that conducts research to manage and protect threatened marine mammals.
Plans issued for dams, salmon safety
May 6, 2008 (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
The Bush Administration on Monday issued its final court-ordered plans for making Columbia Basin hydroelectric dams and irrigation projects safe for endangered salmon, calling them the most robust and comprehensive effort yet.
But salmon advocates blasted them as a step backward, saying they depend too much on restoring habitat in tributaries to boost fish numbers and not enough on reducing the high numbers of young salmon killed by 14 dams on their way to the sea.
"Ultimately, this plan shows it is time for Congress and the next administration to restore the balance in this river, assure the law and science are followed, and protect the thousands of family wage jobs," said Todd True, lead attorney for salmon advocates.
Once an expected challenge is filed, it will be up to U.S. District Judge James Redden to decide whether the plans -- known as biological opinions -- meet the demands of the Endangered Species Act to put salmon on the road to recovery.
The plans do not include removing four dams on the lower Snake River, which is favored by salmon advocates.
The documents are posted at: Final Columbia-Snake Basin Biological Opinions
Sea lions' killers used boat, opened cages, authorities say
May 6, 2008 (Seattle Times)
Investigators think the killers navigated tricky waters in a restricted area, knew how to drop the doors of two metal cages, and then began firing a high-powered rifle into six trapped sea lions, which would have tried to bolt at the first gunshot.
The carcasses of the sea lions were found Sunday in floating cages moored at the base of Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River.
In recent years sea lions have been congregating there to dine on the spring run of endangered chinook salmon trying to get upstream to spawn. Wildlife agents last month started to trap them and remove those that had been marked as the worst offenders.
But only one of the victims was among the California sea lions that had become Bonneville regulars, said Bob Lohn, regional administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Two were of another sea lion species, the Steller, which prefers sturgeon over salmon. Among the others was a recent arrival at the dam and a pup.
Sea lions shot dead on Columbia River as salmon battle rages
May 4, 2008 (AP)
Six federally protected sea lions were apparently shot to death on the Columbia River as they lay in open traps put out to ensnare the animals, which eat endangered salmon. State and federal authorities are investigating.
The discovery came one day after three elephant seals were found shot to death at a breeding ground in central California.
Trapping will be suspended during the investigation, said Rick Hargrave, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife who was at the scene Sunday.
The carcasses of the four California sea lions and two Steller sea lions were found Sunday around noon below the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River on the border of Oregon and Washington.
The six animals appear to have been shot by somebody on the Washington side during the night, said Brian Gorman, a spokesman for the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Canada 'caught in middle' over salmon cull
May 3, 2008 (National Post)
On Thursday, the U.S. National Marine Fishery Service announced the closure of commercial and recreational fishing for chinook salmon off the west coast, the first such ban in 160 years.
In Vancouver next week, officials from the U.S. and Canada will discuss the lucrative chinook culls, the final and most contentious piece of reforging the Pacific Salmon Treaty, a 10-year agreement that divides up harvests between the two countries. The present treaty expires at the end of the year.
Five species of salmon live in the Pacific Ocean: chinook, sockeye, coho, pink and chum. The largest and most valuable is the chinook salmon, otherwise known as the king salmon. Sports fishermen prize it for its size: the fish can grow up to 11 kilograms.
Jeff Grout, regional resource manager of salmon for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, attributes the declines to changes in climate.
"What we've seen is a weakness of fish that went to the ocean in 2005. Our salmon like cold water and the zooplankton and other food species that are in that cold water. In 2005, we had very warm water that our juvenile salmon were going out into and it appears there wasn't a lot of food available for them to eat."
He says the government is working to preserve more vulnerable chinook from over harvesting.
"We're putting together fishing plans to ensure sufficient numbers of fish reach our spawning grounds in 2008 and to sustain the species in coming years."
Those measures include reduced harvests at some key fisheries and limits on recreational culls, particularly for the early time Fraser River chinook that spawn as early as March.
Connect the dots to save orcas, salmon
May 2, 2008 (Seattle Times op-ed by Kathy Fletcher and Howard Garrett)
Most people realize that saving Puget Sound's beloved resident orca whales depends on saving the Sound itself, removing the toxic chemicals that are killing the whales, preventing oil spills, and restoring the orcas' essential food, salmon.
But it may be news that our local orcas also depend on restoring salmon runs in the Columbia River Basin. Recent reports of the dramatic declines in West Coast salmon populations make this connection between the mighty Columbia and Snake rivers and our endangered orcas all the more crucial to examine.
Orca and salmon scientists alike have identified the Columbia River Basin, which once produced more salmon than any other river system on Earth, as an essential food source for southern resident orcas during their seasonal travels away from Puget Sound to coastal waters. In fact, the federal government's orca-recovery plan cites the decline in Columbia River Basin salmon as "perhaps the single greatest change in food availability for resident killer whales since the late 1800s."
Strangely, though, the plan does not call for the one action scientists say is central to any Columbia Basin salmon-recovery plan: removal of four costly and outdated dams on the Lower Snake River, a tributary of the Columbia.
Climate change makes removing the dams even more important, because the salmon and steelhead that will be saved are more likely to survive warmer temperatures. These fish spawn at higher elevations than any other — some at over 6,000 feet above sea level, where streams are likely to stay cooler. Removing the dams will also lower water temperatures downstream, providing help to fish in the lower river system.
Pollution threatens 17 commercial shellfish areas
May 2, 2008 (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
The Washington Health Department says pollution threatens shellfish harvesting in 17 of the state's commercial shellfish growing areas.
The department's annual list concerning the state's 97 commercial shellfish growing areas showed 15 threatened areas last year. But in 2005, there were 25 areas facing threats from fecal pollution. Officials say the number has been dropping gradually. This year's list includes many of the areas threatened in previous years.
West's salmon fishery declared failure
May 2, 2008 (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
Federal authorities declared the West Coast ocean salmon fishery a failure Thursday, opening the way for Congress to appropriate economic disaster assistance for coastal communities in California, Oregon and Washington.
"This is a bleak year," Jim Balsiger, NOAA Fisheries Service acting assistant administrator, said in announcing the declaration in Portland.
The agency in charge of ocean fishing estimated that the value of this year's lost catch was $22 million -- 90 percent of the five-year average -- and direct income losses to sport and commercial fishing boats, processors, bait shops and other related businesses at $60 million in the three states.
Fishing cutbacks in 2006 resulting from the collapse of the Klamath River chinook caused a drop in catch value estimated at $16 million.
Congress appropriated $60 million in disaster assistance that was distributed last year.
This year's declaration stems from the sudden collapse of California's Sacramento River chinook salmon run, which has been blamed on the deadly gantlet of irrigation pumps young fish have to swim past in the Sacramento Delta plus starvation conditions once they reach the ocean.
First Nations to ration Fraser River salmon, official says
May 1, 2008 (CBC)
Sto:lo Nation fisheries adviser Ernie Crey said 2008 is the worst year he's seen in five decades for returning sockeye on the Fraser.
Leaders representing 94 First Nations bands made up of more than 70,000 people have been meeting to come up with a catch-sharing program, Crey said Wednesday. Normally, aboriginal fishermen have the right to catch as much as they need for their own communities' consumption.
Last summer, large parts of the commercial sockeye fishery were closed on the West Coast. If aboriginal communities do get a chance to fish sockeye on the Fraser this summer, they will have to agree on a plan to share the fish among all members on the Fraser, Crey said, something he said has never happened before.
Orca News Archives
|