Orca Protection and Recovery

Today there was a press release issued stating that Tokitae will be released to her ancestral waters. I remain reserved, to the chagrin of many. It would be an enormous victory for the orcas, for the tireless efforts of the Lummi people, the myriad nonprofits, scientists and activists and who have fought endlessly to see her back here.

Yet experience has taught me to remain hopeful but guarded.

Good News Monday: ⁣
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🐬 Normally it’s good news when the SRKW are in the Salish Sea, but after the commercial fishing vessel fiasco last weekend we are celebrating that the orcas have remained out at sea since the day the vessel went down. Quick 🛳 update: the ship slipped deeper over the weekend as it sits precariously on a 700ft ledge but there is zero evidence of further seeping of diesel oil or other fluids. We are grateful for the crews that continue to work around the clock to 100% resolve this debacle and we are happy the SRKW are safe out at sea.⁣
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🌊 Toxic pilings have been removed from the Puget Sound at the mouth of the Duwamish-Green River in Seattle. King County crews pulled out 1,800 creosoted timbers from the water & removed a 72,000-square-foot dock in Elliott Bay. Per DNR, Creosote causes high mortality and developmental abnormalities in fish & herring eggs. Herring are an important salmon feedstock and this river is home to chinook, coho, chum and pink salmon, steelhead and cutthroat which will all benefit from clean water. ⁣
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🐟 We are now officially past the date that the salmon farming industry could have sued the Minister of Fisheries for her highly restrictive licensing decision. This means: no renewals of the Discovery Island farms: so the Fraser salmon will remain safe from salmon farms until they reach Port Hardy. gave the rest of the farms a 2 year licence which means if the industry tries to restock the farms, they are aware they risk having to cull the fish before they reach market size because they may not have a licence long enough. Also in her decision, finally the Fraser River First Nations are included in the upcoming consultations, which they always should have been. Meanwhile the epic pink salmon returns continues! Amazing salmon news from ⁣
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📷: J27 Blackberry, photographed from Lime Kiln, SJI, Wa. 2 weeks ago. ⁣
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https://www.q13fox.com/news/vessel-sinks-near-san-juan-island-concerns-of-diesel-spill-to-marine-life

Vessel sinks near San Juan Island, concerns of diesel spill to marine life A fishing vessel sank off the west side of San Juan Island, which has locals on the island concerned.

Although World Orca Day (and World Orca Month) is about celebrating the species, it is important that we recognise that there are orca who suffer due to being held in captivity and there is nothing to celebrate about that. I, along with the rest of the team at World Orca Day, want to recognise those individuals and state that we haven’t forgotten and we continue to advocate for them.

This infographic shows the minimum number of orca held around the world – there are potentially more in Russia and in China – but details are hard to come by. If you have recent evidence about the orca in these countries, please do contact World Orca Day. The solution for all these orca, no matter where they are currently held, is for them to be placed into genuine and authentic sanctuaries. Once there, each individual would experience a more natural way of life and can be assessed as to their suitability for rehabilitation and potential release into the wild. Despite what the captivity industry might tell you, such sanctuaries are feasible and would improve the welfare for the orca. I encourage you to endorse such sanctuaries and speak out for the orca held in captivity.

CORKY IS NOW ON AMAZON! Please consider watching the film and leaving a review on Amazon. Thanks for your support!! 💙

Corky The story of the world's longest-held captive orca, the changing sentiment about orcas in captivity, and the rise of sea sanctuaries.

THANKS FOR JOINING THE WEBINAR....
Thanks to all those who joined the World Orca Day webinar – it was fantastic to be able to share some of my research and advocacy work. It was a shame that we didn’t get to answer all your amazing questions – I’ll try and tick some of them off in social media posts in the rest of the days of World Orca Month.
The wide range of locations that folks joined us from was fascinating – and I thought you might like to see a simplified plot map with the countries (keeping in mind that there were lots of individual locations within a country!).…. My sincere apologies if I missed your location – but please do tag in their comments, so that we are aware of your participation.
I will be posting a recording of the video and alert you to that on here when it is ready.

Wonderful Breaking News: ⁣
“White House weighs in on Lower Snake River dam breaching”⁣ -Seattle Times, this morning! ✊🏽🐟🐬⁣
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⁣The Biden administration released 2 reports finding dam removal is needed on the Lower Snake to recover salmon in the Columbia & Snake rivers & that replacing the energy produced by the Lower Snake River dams is feasible.⁣
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The 2 reports paint a picture of what it will take over the next decades to restore salmon populations, honor commitments to Tribal Nations, deliver clean power & meet the needs of stakeholders across the PNW region.⁣
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The report relied on science from the Nez Perce Tribe and state of Oregon & federal research by NOAA & US Fish and Wildlife Service scientists.⁣
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Today 13 runs of salmon and steelhead are at risk of extinction in the Columbia and Snake river. Salmon in the Snake Basin are particularly affected with only about 50 fish returning to some drainages in an area that used to produce half the Chinook salmon in the Columbia Basin.⁣
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Salmon recovery has not resulted despite efforts over decades, including habitat restoration, massive hatchery releases and passage fixes at the dams. ⁣
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The reports come as tribes and their allies are heading to Washington, D.C. this week to advocate for dam removal on the Lower Snake to boost recovery of salmon and endangered southern resident orcas, which rely on salmon for their diet.⁣
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The Nez Perce Tribe has long been at the forefront of the push for dam removal on the Lower Snake. Tribal Vice Chair Wheeler called the reports “definitely encouraging. This administration is taking the climate crisis and the salmon extinction crisis seriously,”⁣
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📰: Article by Lynda Mapes for the Seattle Times ⁣
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📷: Photograph by 💙⁣
🐬: K22 “Sekiu” spyhopping in Boundary Pass. ⁣
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Hope you can make it!
Register at
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_4oN6tBkvTRGHF3YECPxxGg

At the World Whale Conference, in Boston USA, in November 2013, I launched World Orca Day to celebrate orca. https://www.worldorcaday.org/
The inaugural observation day was the 14th of July 2014. Since then, World Orca Day has grown and now encompasses World Orca Month (July) and World Orca Week (which starts on the Monday prior to World Orca Day, of any given year – and this year will be 11-17 July).
World Orca Day has a number of social media platforms, which currently only have small followings, but they are starting to grow, so please do join us! (links below)
page https://www.facebook.com/WorldOrcaDay/
Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/worldorcaday/
And twitter account https://twitter.com/WorldOrcaDay
If you have an orca tattoo, there is a competition for most popular tattoo (as voted by ‘likes’ on facebook) with the winner announced on World Orca Day.
World Orca Month has started already in New Zealand, given the timezone here, so I’m intending to spend some time working on a new orca publication and celebrating the species!
I hope you will have the chance to do something orca related too.

Via: Watershed Watch Salmon Society This is unbelievable. A massive area providing prime salmon habitat and flood protection in the Heart of the Fraser is about to be wiped out and we have to stop it. A landowner is building a giant 4.2 km private d**e around Strawberry Island so they can grow cranberries in the floodplain, and it looks like they’re doing it without the necessary permits. If they aren’t stopped, we will lose a vast amount of salmon habitat and increase the flood risk to surrounding communities. Please step up to help stop this destruction!

Development threatens Strawberry Island in Fraser floodplain Strawberry Island is in imminent danger of being removed from the Fraser floodplain forever by development, a foolhardy decision in terms of both flood preparedness and critical wild salmon habitat.