Orcas officially endangered
Finally today, the NOAA Fisheries Service has declared the Puget Sound Orca an endangered species [NOAA]. While the whales were already listed under “protected” status, this upgrade to “endangered” will funnel more federal money towards protecting our local totem animal, and it’ll make sure that federal activities don’t put the whales in harm’s way. Since there are currently only about 89 of them left, well, it’s really about damn time.
There are quite a few reasons for the decline in the local whale population, and while the finger is often pointed at the lack of salmon, PCB poisoning and the large taste for whale watching are also largely at fault [CBD]. There are also very few sexually mature males in the group, and I can’t imagine that all of the being hungry and poisoned very often put the guys in the mood, which may explain why one of them has taken up residence alone in BC.
The next step will be figuring out how to boost the number of whales, which will be helped in large part by current plans to increase the salmon stocks and analyze their exposure to toxic chemicals.
(Via the P-I.)
