Orcasphere

It’s nice to see WDFW making public (see below) the consequences of violating the State and Federal laws governing how vessels may interact with killer whales.  I’ve added these details to the Beam Reach wiki page regarding orca-boat rules.

WDFW NEWS RELEASE
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091
http://wdfw.wa.gov/ [...]

This well-written story about the CA salmon fishery in the High Country News connects the fate of southern residents with the agricultural industry of the Central Valley.

The past five years have already been harrowing, with a round of fishing bans to protect declining salmon runs in the Klamath River near the California-Oregon border. While those [...]

This morning, John Burbank scribed a disconcerting account of oil politics in the southern residents’ backyard.  The following paragraphs provide a glimpse into how the complex interactions of the petroleum industry and our State political system increase risks for killer whales in the Northwest.
BP also has its own salaried lobbyist dedicated to keeping watch [...]

The Sightline Institute has just released a new Cascadia Scorecard that attempts to track progress towards sustainability in Cascadia, the ecoregion encompassing much of western Washington and southern British Columbia. Southern resident killer whales and chinook salmon are featured within the scorecard’s wildlife indicator along with wolves, sage grouse, and caribou. While the [...]

Keynote speaker at Sound Waters 2010
Dr. Nathaniel ‘Nat’ Scholtz, NOAA/NWFSC
Coho salmon are our first choice for a ’sentinel species’ because they:

are widely distributed
inhabit lowland steams that are important and familiar to humans and areas impacted directly by stormwater runoff (if we can reduce toxics in lowland streams, then we’ll likely keep them out of the [...]

This Friday, January 15, 2010, is the deadline for public comment on the proposed orca conservation area along the west side of San Juan Island. All marine conservationists should consider commenting on these precedent-setting rules: comment via email | comment via web form.  (Official background and the PDF of proposed rule are on the [...]

Dec 23 Vancouver Sun article about a forth-coming science paper that proposes a conservation zone that overlaps with the proposed orca sanctuary boundaries:
Wildlife researchers have identified the key feeding area for a critically endangered population of killer whales near Vancouver Island and proposed the creation of a unique, miniature conservation zone for the few square [...]

There are some great observations and quotes in the liveblog of Matthey Preusch during the Nov 23, 2009, Salmon Court. This first one suggests a slight of hand or an ignorance of the primary findings of the Bright Future report
— that we do not necessarily have to choose between spilling water for salmon [...]

This story makes it clear to me that Oregon is WAY ahead of Washington on dam removal.  Whether it’s breaching of small dams like Savage Rapids or open discussion of lower Snake River Dam removal, Oregon is setting an inspirational pace in the 21st century.
All this is coming from a region/State where the spotted owl [...]

Interesting news of an agreement about dam removal by ~2019 on the Klamath River. The cooperation exhibited by disparate stake-holders mimics what happened with the Elwha, but might inspire hope for more complex basins like the Columbia because the cooperation occurred across a interstate border (OR/CA).  Let’s hope CA manages to come up with [...]