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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2018
Groups want US to consider salmon fi shing impact on orcas
By GENE JOHNSON
Associated Press
SEATTLE — The fed-
eral government is violating
the Endangered Species Act
by failing to consider how
salmon fi shing off the West
Coast is affecting endangered
killer whales, two conserva-
tion groups said Tuesday as
they threatened a lawsuit.
The Arizona-based Cen-
ter for Biological Diver-
sity and the Washington
state-based Wild Fish Con-
servancy notifi ed President
Donald Trump’s administra-
tion they intend to fi le a law-
suit within 60 days unless
offi cials re-evaluate whether
the fi shing further jeopar-
dizes orcas that frequent the
inland waters of the Pacifi c
Northwest.
“We can’t allow business
as usual in the salmon fi sh-
eries while southern resident
killer whales are starving to
death,” Julie Teel Simmonds,
an attorney with the Center
for Biological Diversity, said
in a news release.
The orcas’ plight has
received much attention
this year as scientists warn
that they’re on the brink of
extinction. There are just 74
left, the lowest number since
more than 50 were captured
for aquarium display in the
1970s, and no calf born in
the last three years has sur-
vived. One mother whale
captured attention around the
world this summer when she
carried her dead calf on her
head for 17 days in an appar-
ent attempt to revive it.
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
An endangered female orca leaps from the water while breaching in Puget Sound west of Seattle.
Last week, Washington
Gov. Jay Inslee announced
what he called a “herculean”
$1.1 billion plan to help the
population recover. The
Democrat said the money
would go toward protect-
ing and restoring habitat for
salmon, especially Chinook,
the orcas’ favored prey;
boosting production from
salmon hatcheries; stormwa-
ter cleanup; and quieting ves-
sel traffi c, which can inter-
fere with the whales’ hunting
and communication.
But conservationists say
more must be done. While
a federal judge has ordered
the government to consider
boosting salmon runs by
breaching four dams on the
lower Snake River, that pros-
pect remains highly con-
troversial and Republicans
in Congress have vowed to
oppose it.
Unlike other popula-
tions of orcas, which feed on
marine mammals including
seals, the southern residents
eat salmon — primarily
Chinook. The conservation
groups said Tuesday that
one way to help them imme-
diately would be to catch
fewer salmon off the coast,
where the whales spend their
winters.
For now, the groups are
not targeting fi shing in Wash-
ington state’s inland waters,
including Puget Sound,
where fi shing quotas are
managed under a different
process.
According to a letter
the groups sent to the U.S.
Department of Commerce
and the National Marine
Fisheries Service, the federal
government has been relying
on an outdated 2009 review
to authorize salmon fi sher-
ies up and down the West
Coast. At the time of the
2009 review, there were 85
orcas in the southern resident
population.
Michael Milstein, a
spokesman for the fi sheries
service, said it did not have
any immediate comment.
The letter noted that more
than 200,000 Chinook were
caught by recreational and
commercial boats off the
coasts of Washington state,
Oregon and California last
year, which researchers esti-
mate as equaling as much as
one-quarter of all Chinook
available.
“There is now signifi cant
new information not only
about the alarming popula-
tion decline of the southern
resident killer whales, but
also about the relationship
between Chinook and the
orcas’ reproductive success
and viability,” the letter said.
The Center for Biologi-
cal Diversity sued to get the
southern resident orcas listed
as endangered in 2005 and
fi led two other recent law-
suits against the government
— one to expand habitat pro-
tections to the orcas’ forag-
ing and migration areas off
the West Coast, and another
to establish a “whale pro-
tection zone” to shield orcas
from boat noise and distur-
bance in Puget Sound.
Wyden calls for 911-like
suicide prevention number
By KRISTIAN FODEN-
VENCIL
Oregon Public Broadcasting
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden has
asked the Federal Communi-
cations Commission to cre-
ate a three-digit phone num-
ber for those thinking about
taking their lives or in need
of mental health support.
In a recent study by Men-
tal Health America, Oregon
ranked behind nearly every
other state in the nation
because of its prevalence of
mental illness and lack of
access to care.
There is a national sui-
cide prevention number,
1-800-273-TALK, but it
doesn’t exactly trip off the
tongue.
Wyden said a three-digit
code, along the lines of 911,
would solve that problem.
“More needs to be done
to help those in need, and
to increase resources and
improve access to men-
tal health professionals to
help those thinking of sui-
cide,” the Oregon Democrat
wrote the FCC. “I believe
that a three -digit code num-
ber, similar to 911 for emer-
gencies, would most eas-
ily come to mind for those
in need of intervention
services.”
The FCC confi rmed that
the agency had received
Wyden’s letter, and was
reviewing it.
Oregon based Lines For
Life is recommending 611
as the number. CEO Dwight
Holton said it’s time to make
it easier for people in crisis
to access support.
“We all know that for fi re
or rescue or physical injury,
we call 911. Well, we need
a 911 for the brain — and
that’s what a three-digit life-
line will deliver,” Holton
said.
If the number were to
change, it would likely
be staffed by the current
national suicide prevention
hotline. That hotline fi elds
about 2 million calls a year.
The Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention
reports more than 40,000
Americans die each year
from suicide.
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