Originally Posted By: Carcassman
Could be. When the hacteries started to pump out Chinook it probably increased the overall numbers. It is also possible that the delayed release progarm, which kept fish in the Sound and increased the toxin loads in the fish, may have increased the body burden in the whales.

Another thing to at least ponder is that, if we are rather unwilling to let the wild Chinook runs to increase to feed the whales we may have to use the hatchery fish for that.


Read the article linked in the post, " Killer whales dine on chinook salmon,endanger them" by Phoneix77. The article mentions the toxins in the orcas but doesn't explore where they come from other than chinook. The NOAA Northwest Science Center has been studying this for the past several years. The delayed release chinook have some of the highest toxin loads of any salmon in the world including farmed fish. As TwoDogs pointed out the issue of pollution in Puget Sound has to be addressed as part of any program to protect orcas. The article should serve as a warning to fishermen, the easiest way to provide more chinook for the orcas is to stop fishing for chinook. Restricting vessel access in a limited area may not be to sports fishers liking but it is more desirable than a total closure of chinook fishing in the sound.