Orcasphere

<More photos> Just back from the meeting in which NOAA invited the public to comment on the proposed rules for vessel-orca interactions.  Before a captive audience of Pacific salmon and rockfish, the 2.5 hours of public comment was dominated by the commercial whale watch, recreational and commercial fishing, and kayaking industries.  It seems like a [...]

In a bit of press coverage related to a new publication by John Ford et al. we orca advocates are again getting the confusing message: southern residents need a place at the table where Chinook salmon management is derived, but it’s sure to be nearly impossible to represent them.  I say it’s time to stop [...]

Here is a great close-up of the teeth of an offshore killer whale from Rachael Griffin’s blog.  Can you imagine the orca-shark battles and chewing that might have caused such incredible wear on so many huge teeth?!

This oregonlive.com article presents some great factoids for the orca conservationist.  These are my favorite excerpts: The total spent by the agency [BPA] since 1978 is about $12 billion. That spending shows up in your power bill. About 15 percent, or $11, of the average Nortwesterner’s monthly electricity charges goes towards salmon, according to the [...]

I’m not convinced it is worth worrying much about climate change and northwest salmon when there is so much we can do to assist their recovery on shorter time scales and locally.  While the effects on water temperature and runoff could be huge, I’ll place my bet on the oceanographic variations exerting the strongest control [...]