Actually I prefer the name Killer Whale to Orca, and street signs that say
Dead End instead of  No Outlet, however there are two sides to every story
and the politically correct seem to be winning.

For those of you who did not hear yesterdays news concerning Puget Sound
Orcas, the long and short of it was that the Fed Government did not put the
Puget Sound Killer Whale on the Endangered Species list because of a
supposed 20% population decline in the past 6 years.

If you have spent much time here in the Pacific Northwest, you would know
that the politically correct side of this issue would be something like:
"We have to reduce the amount of recreational boaters on Puget Sound. Their
engines make too much noise and pollution, and their depth sounders
interfere with the Orcas communication."
God help you if you took the non politically correct side of this issue and
stated something like:
"The 1974 Federal Judge Boldt decision allowed the Northwest Indians to
stretch nets completely across every Puget Sound river and decimate the
salmon population. The Killer Whales are leaving because there is not much
for them to eat and animal populations historically fluctuate do to their
food source."

The chances of you reading the politically correct statement in the news is
about 1000% greater than the non pc statement.

Rex
MV Zeus (launch tomorrow)
Preston WA

Hi Rex,

I recently attended a talk by a scientist from the Friday Harbor Whale
Museum. Although he didn't say it in so many words, he seemed to think the
term "Orca" was a bit of PC silliness.

On the topic of population decline he said that they just don't know what to
make of it. Records haven't been kept long enough to know if the decline is
significant or just part of a natural fluctuation. If it is real, the
problem doesn't seem to be food related in Puget Sound. [There are food
related population and behavior shifts among 'transient' whales in Alaska]
The problem in Puget Sound, if real, seems to be related to either disease
or toxicity but they haven't found enough corpses to really get a handle on
the situation.

WRT the effect that recreational boating has on whales he gave the
impression that it is negligible except in the case of individual operators
who don't follow the rules about not approaching the animals. There is a
good deal of anecdotal evidence that whales actually enjoy a bit of
interaction with boats as long as it's on their own terms. OTOH: Just as
most of us don't like to be jostled about in a crowded shopping mall, whales
don't like to be crowded by curious boaters. The speaker gave no indication
that whales are bothered by "routine" boat noise.

Determining cause and effect with any animal population is a very complex
task. Doing so with a top predator like the Killer Whale is made even more
difficult because of their mobility and the fact that they make reasoned
decisions that even have what could be thought of as an emotional component.

The Boldt Decision is almost 30 years old and for most of that 30 years the
Orca population has been on the increase. I'll grant you that salmon stocks
have declined around here (although there was a bumper crop last year!) but
it would appear that Orcas are not absolutely dependant on salmon for
survival. Further, I'm not sure that the decline of salmon can be blamed on
the Boldt Decision or on Indian fisheries. For example, our home port (John
Wayne Marina - Sequim) is also home to the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe's
fishing fleet; I don't recall ever seeing a boat rigged for salmon there.
There are a number of former gill net boats but they've all been converted
for crab or other benthic species like urchin or geoduck. Port Angeles Boat
Haven seems to show the same situation. It seems to me (but I'm no expert)
that the main culprit behind the salmon problem (in Puget Sound at least) is
loss of spawning habitat to logging or development.

As Doug, Ken, and others have been saying these problems aren't easy.
Unfortunately, recreational boaters are an easy target so it behooves us to
take action. We all need to have some understanding of the complexities of
these issues and we need to encourage government and the environmental
community to direct their energy into areas where it will do the most good.
To do that effectively we also need to insure that our own house is in order
with regard to these issues.

Good luck and calm seas for Zeus' launching tomorrow!

Orcinusly yours,

Alex