Sunday, February 24, 2019

The Perilous Plight of the Southern Resident Orca


To the National Energy Board the TransMountain pipeline expansion is  "likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects on the Southern resident killer whale." The NEB went on to conclude, "yeah, but so what?"

So they get a little beat up, what's the big deal?

Even before Admiral Justin's armada of supertankers steams out onto the Salish Sea these orca are barely hanging on.  An article in today's Seattle Times explores the perilous plight of the southern orca. Will Justin finish them off?



4 comments:

Trailblazer said...

From National Geographic..
At one point there were probably 250 Orcas ...

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2018/08/orcas-killer-whales-endangered-cetaceans-news/


Orcas were once hunted as pests.
We have only counted their numbers for about 20 years or so.

TB

The Mound of Sound said...


A lot of people out here are questioning the policies of DFO. The herring fishery is depleting the feed stock of the salmon contributing to a drop in their numbers that works its way into the next rung up the food chain, the orca. Now the guy that DFO works for is planning to launch an armada of heavily laden supertankers into the southern orca home waters. That reprehensible but a powerful reminder of what our coast means to our "fellow Canadians" the other side of the Rockies.

Those drylanders don't hesitate to threaten us. One minute they're going to cut off our oil supply. The next it's some silver-haired moron from Winnipeg talking about sending in the army to set us straight. I wonder what they would do if they lost their biggest and most important port, the one they depend upon for their access to Asia Pacific?

the salamander said...

.. It seems we need to connect this into the Nikiforuk article seen today..
just for the benefit of our elected but whipped MP's
Also, there is substantial political will in Washington State.
But there is zero political will within the Opposition ie Scheer Inc
DFO of course has been MIA for approx 10 years now..
& Main Media don't get it either.. or give a damn

I'm scratching my head for a lever ..
who knows, maybe it will take a class action lawsuit

Jay Farquharson said...

The DFO’s been MIA on both coasts for decades.

Wild Atlantic Salmon, Atlantic Cod, Ling Cod, Rockfish, Abalone, etc.

It was pretty clear that the DFO was an enemy, when they opened up the Herring roe fishery.

Unlike the Indigenous fishery, which harvests only the roe from kelp forests and ropes strung in the water, after the herring spawn,

They okayed the netting of pre-spawn herring, cutting the females open for the roe, then turning the remains and males into fish meal, for fertilizer, pet food and farmed salmon food pellets. Fish that would spawn multiple times over their lifespan, instead, like the Golden Goose, are wasted for short term gain.

With that, they doomed the health of the West Coast and Salish Sea.