By Bill Arthur, Vice Chair Conservation Committee & Salmon/Orca Campaign Coordinator
July brought confirmation of some good news; the J-Pod made a short appearance in Puget Sound after an unusually long absence. It was a brief display, but it was long enough to confirm that one of the new calves born in May is still alive and a female. This is good news for the beleaguered pod, and symbolizes a ray of hope for their future. At the time of this article, the pod have since gone back out to sea in search of food - Chinook salmon.
The bad news is that this year's salmon runs are dismal. Currently, most major rivers in the Northwest stand at only a 25%-33% of the ten year average, including the important Snake River chinook runs. With these current projections, restoring the Snake River and rebuilding abundant salmon runs is now more important than ever.
Despite this grim news, there are several upcoming opportunities you can participate in to help rebuild salmon runs and to save our orca.
1.) Northwest Power Planning and Conservation Council (NWPCC) Fish and Wildlife Plan Amendment was released on July 18th. There will be a 90 Day comment period that closes on Oct. 18th, along with several public meetings and hearings. Two hearings are currently scheduled, one in Portland and one in Seattle, and we expect additional ones to be added. The Portland hearing will be on August 13th at the NWPCC headquarters and the Seattle hearing will be on Oct. 15th (location TBD).
This plan includes a set of modest habitat measures that, while useful, are still inadequate. We must continue to build momentum for the bold actions needed to restore the Snake River salmon runs. The hearing and comment period is an opportunity to demonstrate to the Governor, Council members, and other key public officials that restoring the Snake River and its salmon must be done in tandem with investments to keep communities whole.
2.) Washington Department of Ecology will release a draft rule in early August to modify the Total Dissolved Gas Standard (TDG) to increase spill at the dams on the lower Snake and Columbia Rivers. We anticipate the draft proposal will be fairly good, but that we will encourage some modifications. Spill is the most important near-term action we can take to help young salmon survive their trip to the ocean while we work on long-term solutions, like the removal of the lower Snake River dams. If you’d like to stay updated, please consider joining our Northwest Species Action Team.
Finally, for those of you that missed out on initial screenings, mark your calendars for upcoming opportunities to view the excellent movie, Dammed to Extinction (D2E). The documentary profiles our orca and their connection to the Snake River salmon. This is an excellent movie that explains the plight of the Southern Resident Killer Whales and their link and need for Snake River Chinook salmon. Some showings are free, while others charge $10. Please check the individual events for their specific pricing. Additional showings will likely be scheduled.
* August 8 - Seattle Patagonia Store, 2100 1st Ave., 7pm
* August 20 - Issaquah, WA Gibson Hall 105 Newport Way SW, 7pm
* September 12 - Olympia WA - Capitol Theater, 7pm