So, why are we tying the “ recovery” of the SRKW to our Chinook recovery ?

If one looks at the whale population from the magic date of 1995, then follow it on through today, it does look like the whale population for the southern resident pod is crashed. Now, when we look at the population from 1975 to 1995 it looks like the numbers went from roughly 75 whales to 90 to 95 whales.

What could have driven those numbers up ? Way more chinook salmon available? More seals, what ?

And if the lower numbers as shown in the 70s were the normal , why pin recovery of the whales to the 1995 levels when they were mysteriously much higher for a very short time frame ?

Could the mid 1970 numbers of approximately 70 whales be the normal average over time vs. the magic 1995 numbers the state uses today ?

Just Wondering
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