Originally Posted By: Salmo g.
In the article I read, NMFS Regional Administrator Barry Thom said, "it's not too late." Unfortunately I think he is wrong.

Sorry to be so pessimistic about the whales and Chinook restoration and recovery, but if society and the state and federal agencies really want to feed Chinook salmon to the orcas for the next 50 years or more, it will have to be with hatchery Chinook because the natural habitat simply cannot and will not produce the abundance and diversity of forage the whales need.

Sg


There is an old contracting/construction adage that you can have it fast, you can have it cheap and you can have it good (quality) but you can't have it fast, cheap and good. Kind of applies with Orca recovery:

You can have more Orcas, you can have more development, you can have more salmon (but adversely impact wild stock if any such thing remains) and you can have all the pinniped predators you want but you can't have more more development, more (and sufficient) Chinook, current/increasing numbers of pinnipeds and more Orcas.

It is way past time for NOAA to step up and address the MMPA as it adversely impacts Chinook numbers available for Orcas. I was disappointed (but not surprised) that apparently neither Mr. Thom nor Governor Inslee identified that issue when discussing actions to recover Orcas.
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