Slide background

Protecting Orca by Restoring Salmon

orca.times.mom.calfDecember 28, 2016

A guest opinion recently challenged the notion that starving orcas would benefit from dam removal, which scientists say will bolster dwindling salmon populations. Pasco City Planner Dave McDonald writes, “The Columbia/Snake River system is not connected to that habitat favored by the orcas.”

That’s just not true, but then again Mr. McDonald isn’t an expert on orcas. Instead let’s look to Dr. Samuel Wasser, director of the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington, for a fact-based explanation. Dr. Wasser has conducted internationally respected research on orcas for years.

In a recent press statement he said, “Early spring Columbia River Chinook are vital to the reproductive health and population growth of southern resident killer whales. They replenish the whale’s reserves after the harsh winter and sustain them until the Fraser River Chinook run peaks in late summer. Low abundance of the Columbia River run increases rates of spontaneous abortions among pregnant whales of that year.”

Historically, half the Columbia Basin’s spring Chinook were produced in habitat located above the lower Snake River dams. Removing dams would re-open access. That’s why scientists view it as the most promising tool for salmon (and orca) recovery.

Steve Hawley, Hood River, Ore.

Share This