Summer 2004 Vol. 5, Issue 3
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NEWSLETTER OF THE PUGET SOUND CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN CETACEAN SOCIETY “The Saltwater We Know” N EWSLETTER OF THE PUGET SOUND CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN CETACEAN SOCIETY VOLUME 5, ISSUE 3 SUMMER 2004 Meetings resume Chapter Currents in October by Uko Gorter, ACS/PS President Summer has blessed our Pacific Northwest article on fish farms is fascinating and Very Special Event (see pg 5) with plenty of sun and higher than average poignant. Enjoy reading. ‘Original Spirits” to benefit VHP temperatures. While we are enjoying the • Oct. 3—1:30 to 4:30p heat, or escaping it, we are reminded of our ACS/PS would like to extend our condo- duty to conserve water. By doing so we lences to the Orange County Chapter with Wednesday Evening Meetings: help, not only to secure our drinking water, the passing of their chapter president, Jack • Oct. 20—7p to 9p but also our salmon. Of course we ulti- Kidwell. Jack died on June 30 of this year, • Nov 17—7p to 9p mately help our resident killer whales with a from complications arising from a recent steady supply of their favorite food. • Dec 15—7p to 9p heart attack. We will miss Jack’s dedication and great sense of humor. Jack has willed In this issue you may find a number of many of his whale books to the ACS li- please check the chapter website articles about salmon. As the main food brary, for which we are very grateful. (www.acspugetsound.org) source for orcas, we thought if would be of for program information great interest to our readers. We would like On a lighter note. We are very proud to to thank Alexandra Morton in particular, announce the launching of the ACS na- Event Information for her contribution to our newsletter. Her (Continued on page 4) All speaker series events meet on the 3rd Wednesday of the month at the Phinney Whales, Salmon Farms and Oil Neighborhood Center, Room 6, 6532 Phin- by Alexandra Morton ney Ave. N., Seattle, just north of the Echo Bay, BC Woodland Park Zoo. Doors open at 7pm and the program starts at 7:30pm. When the first salmon farm was towed past my house in 1987, I thought “good idea.” Plenty of free parking is available in the Many people share this appraisal, because we want to protect wild fish from the vora- upper and lower parking lots. Admission is cious human appetite. However, several powerful corporations engaged in salmon farm- free—donations are gratefully appreciated. ing have been my neighbours for 16 years now and as a result I have seen the underside of an industry I now think of as, ruthless. Inside... Fish farming has gone on for over 10,000 years and can actually create good food in a sustainable manner, but the ancient farmer never attempted to rear a carnivore. Salmon Summit for Salmon...................................2 are carnivores. To feed them the southern Pacific and north Atlantic small schooling VHP gives presentation at fish species are being pillaged. After capture they are processed, extruded, packaged and NOAA fisheries SRKW meeting ......3 then transported at great energy cost to this ocean. Here they are thrown back into the Cetacean Systematics Workshop.............4 sea to produce a lesser amount of farm fish. Salmon farming steals from one ocean, to Special Event: Original Spirits, Oct. 3....5 pollute another, in the process harming fish predators such as birds and marine mam- Springer returns to her summer home...6 mals with an end result of less fish for humans than what the ocean itself offers. Dalco, humpback in Puget Sound ..........7 Kid’s Corner ..............................................7 The farm salmon stock of choice is the Atlantic salmon. This species has been domesti- insert: your chapter ballot (Continued on page 3) Volume 5, Issue 3 Whulj Summer 2004 — page 1 NEWSLETTER OF THE PUGET SOUND CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN CETACEAN SOCIETY Whulj Summit for Salmon “the saltwater we know” by Peggy Foreman The Newsletter of Summit for Salmon was an expedition to the summit of Mt. Rain- the Puget Sound Chapter ier to benefit a non-profit organization called Save Our Wild of the American Cetacean Society Salmon. This team of 12 volunteers each raised $2,000 support- ing the efforts to restore wild salmon to the Columbia and Snake P.O. Box 17136 Rivers here in Washington State. Two of our board members Seattle, WA 98127-0836 helped to support this effort. Darcie Larson helped organize the 206-781-4860 fundraiser and Peggy Foreman climbed Rainier. Every participant info@acspugetsound.org successfully completed the Three Day Summit Climb led by ex- perienced mountain guides at Rainier Mountaineering, Inc. on July 24, 2004. Funds raised through the climb were donated to the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition, a nationwide coalition of con- ACS/PS Board servation organizations, commercial and sports fishing associa- tions, businesses, river groups, and taxpayer advocates. OFFICERS: Save Our Wild Salmon works to restore abundant, harvestable President - Uko Gorter, uko.susan@verizon.net wild salmon runs to the Columbia Basin. Their current priority is Vice President - Ann Stateler, reletats@aol.com an exciting national campaign to restore endangered salmon and steelhead by partially removing four dams on the lower Snake Acting Treasurer - Joe Olson, joe@acspugetsound.org River here in our state. Secretary - Steve Olson, pnwsteveo@yahoo.com 2004 is a critical year for their campaign since the future of our BOARD MEMBERS: nation’s salmon could be decided by President Bush’s soon-to-be Peggy Foreman, written “Salmon Plan.” The money raised and attention gained by peggy.foreman@shorelineschools.org this expedition will help ensure salmon climb past the many ob- Darcie Larson, Stephanie Norman, stacles before them. If you are interested in learning more about darcie@wildsalmon.org whaledoc@flash.net Save Our Wild Salmon, please visit their website to find out how Jack Crose, Fred West, you can help endangered wild salmon (www.wildsalmon.org) . jdcrose@hotmail.com northmanwest@earthlink.net Joe Olson, Summit for Salmon A Success ! Past President: joe@acspugetsound.org COMMITTEE CHAIRS: The entire Summit for Salmon team reached the top of Mt. Rain- Chapter Delegate: Uko Gorter ier at approximately 7:30 am on Saturday, July 24th. They had Conservation: Ann Stateler beautiful weather on the mountain (as you may remember, July Education: Peggy Foreman 24th was the day the Puget Sound region saw record-breaking Fundraising: Darcie Larson high temperatures) which made for a pretty spectacular view from General Meetings: Joe Olson the top from what I hear. Perhaps most importantly, they all made Grants: Stephanie Norman it down safely too. The climb raised over $25,000 for Save Our Membership: Uko Gorter Wild Salmon. Congratulations Peggy, and thank you for your awe- Newsletter: Diane Allen some fundraising efforts! — Darcie Larson Past President: Joe Olson Special Events: Fred West calling all Whalies Technology : Joe Olson Would you like to help make a difference? Would you like to help ACS/PS Scientific Advisors foster positive changes in Puget Sound (and the world) but are short on time & don’t want to get involved with any highly politi- Dr. David Bain, Dr. Robin Baird, John Calambokidis, cal groups? ACS/PS is looking for a few part-part time volunteers Dr. Marilyn Dahlheim, Dr. John Ford, Dr. Richard Osborne, to assist with a variety of tasks. Skills particularly needed are Dr. Adam Pack, and Dr. Peter Ross bookkeeping, public relations, and secretarial. The ability to real- istically plan and self-direct are desirable. Most important is the ability to laugh, to work together, and a love of the sea, & all that Whulj publication schedule: February, May, August, November it contains & touches. The time commitment is open — from 2 hrs/month up, depending on which assignment you chose and Editor - Diane Allen, diane@ArtemisComputing.com - 360-437-1303 whether you chose to do extra. See Uko or any board member. 46 Village Way, ste 171, Port Ludlow WA 98365 page 2 — Summer 2004 Whulj Volume 5, Issue 3 NEWSLETTER OF THE PUGET SOUND CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN CETACEAN SOCIETY Vashon Hydrophone Project (VHP) Gives Presentation at NOAA Fisheries Southern Resident Killer Whale Meeting by Ann Stateler, VHP Coordinator ACS/PS Board members and Vashon Hydrophone Project planning. (VHP) Coordinators Ann Stateler and Joe Olson did a presenta- tion about the VHP for a Southern Resident killer whale conser- ACS/PS installed the first VHP hydrophone on the west side of vation planning meeting, held June 5 at the Seattle Aquarium. Vashon in January 2004. Funded by tax-deductible donations, our NOAA Fisheries Northwest Region sponsored the meeting. Gov- hydrophone is the only one in lower Puget Sound dedicated to ernment agencies, researchers, and NGOs involved in Southern Southern Resident killer whale research, recovery, and con- Resident orca recovery attended. servation. The VHP can also collect acoustic data on other ceta- ceans in local waters. This VHP presentation provided ACS/PS an opportunity to up- date progress on the project, share acoustic data (boat noise and To learn more about the VHP, visit our web site, ambient noise thus far), elucidate VHP research goals, and an- www.acspugetsound.org, or contact the project coordinators, Ann nounce plans for expanding the project with another hydrophone Stateler at Vashonorcas@aol.com or Joe Olson at on Vashon’s east side. Joe@acspugetsound.org. Other objectives were to encourage more stakeholder participa- To contribute to the VHP, please write checks to: tion in the VHP, especially from Washington Department of Fish ACS/Puget Sound Chapter, and Wildlife and NOAA Fisheries, and seek additional funding.