Orca task force convenes here amid rising tide of urgency

It was a whale of a turnout at Swinomish Casino & Lodge for the latest in a series of Southern Resident Orca Recovery task force meetings last Tuesday.

The main conference room of the Tribal complex was filled past capacity by an audience hopeful the 44-member blue ribbon panel appointed by Gov. Jay Inslee can significantly improve the odds of saving the endangered whales and put into effect measures assuring their long-term presence in the Salish Sea region.

Once home to more than 200 orcas, the shoreline areas and islands of Washington state and British Columbia now host just 75 whales. That’s a slight improvement over the 67 orcas recorded a half-century ago, but well down from nearly 100 present in northwest waters in the mid-90s.

Thus, the April move by Inslee, following failed legislative steps on behalf of orcas, to issue an executive order establishing the task force.

Its daunting mission is one of developing viable recovery strategies for the whales, which feed primarily on another threatened species – the chinook salmon.

“The problems faced by orcas and salmon are human-caused and we have a duty to protect them,” Inslee said when signing the order last spring. “The impacts of letting these two species disappear would be felt for generations.”

Inslee identified prey availability, toxic contaminants and disturbance from noise and vessel traffic as the most pressing factors impacting orcas.

The intertwined fates of orcas and salmon were major topics of discussion at the local meeting, whose many attendees included La Conner area residents and Swinomish Tribal Community members and staff. Debra Lekanoff , government affairs director and Democratic state 40th District House candidate was among them.

The most visible – and entertaining – folks in attendance donned orca costumes to increase awareness of the whales’ plight.

Inslee had stressed the need for task force meetings to be open to the public, its deliberations transparent.

The Swinomish event opened with a general forum before breaking into smaller working groups where discussion was wide-ranging and flip charts were in steady motion.

The voice commanding much attention throughout was that of state Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island, who previously served as an advisor to then-President Barack Obama’s National Ocean Council.

Ranker has offered several orca protection remedies and this year sponsored legislation that included a proposed five dollar increase in the cost of special vehicle license plates depicting endangered species as a way to create added revenue for stepped up marine patrols in support of orcas.

The Ranker bill was passed by the state Senate but failed to gain approval in the House, providing the impetus for Inslee’s executive order.

During the Swinomish break-out sessions, Ranker’s group addressed ways to create healthier chinook runs and habitat, deemed essential for the survival of Southern Resident orcas.

Ranker and other task force members, drawn from a wide cross-section of Pacific Northwest stakeholders, weighed the respective merits of key proposals to be included in a draft report addressing steps government agencies can take to protect whales.

Those recommendations are scheduled for release Sept. 24. Additional public input will be gathered between then and Oct. 3.

Further discussion is set for the Oct. 18 task force meeting in Lacey.

An updated draft is to be released Oct. 24 seeking further public comment.

Those wishing to provide input to the task force can do so on-line at surveymonkey.com/r/srkwtfpubliccomment.

The task force meets in early November with a final 2018 report due toward the middle of the month.

The timetable for a follow-up task force report is October of 2019.

Ranker said just prior to the noon recess at Swinomish that he wants the task force product to be a true working document.

“We’re going to have a beautiful book,” he said. “But I don’t want it to be something that goes on someone’s bookshelf to collect dust and isn’t read or implemented.”

Inslee is on the same page.

His executive order seeks specific task force recommendations outlining both short-term and long-range solutions to the orca issue.

Ranker spoke for the assembly when he stressed that orca extinction isn’t an option.

Recent trends are troubling, though. The Southern Resident Orca population now stands at a decades-old low.

The public was gripped this summer by the tragic death of the first orca calf born to its pod in three years. Its mother carried the 400-pound calf on her head for 17 days as she swam between the San Juans and Vancouver islands.

Still, optimism emerged by the close of the Swinomish conference.

“I was pleasantly surprised,” said a Blaine woman, who arrived at Swinomish by boat from the islands. “I came here not really expecting a lot, but I’m really encouraged. I thought the discussions were productive. There was a lot of focus and depth to them.”