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Winter 2007 Vol. 8, Issue 1 (PDF) 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 8, ISSUE 1 WINTER 2007 Coming Speaker Series events: Chapter Currents • Wed April 18th by Uko Gorter, ACS/PS President speaker TBA • Wed. May 16 As the American Cetacean Society is with the board of directors, he or she Paul Watson, entering its 40th year, our organization is expected to set the new course of founder of Sea Shepard finds itself at the threshold of a new our organization, maintain chapter • Wed. June 20 era. Up until now, ACS has func- relations, and be in charge of admin- Amanda Bradford, U.W. tioned with paid administrative assis- istrative duties. Natural History & conservation tants and a working board of direc- status of western gray whales. tors. An announcement and application was posted on the ACS national site At the annual board meeting in Feb- (and is still up for reference). Addi- Event Information ruary, the ACS national reached a tional announcements and advertise- All speaker series events meet on the decision to hire an Executive Direc- ments were made at all chapter meet- 3rd Wednesday of the month at the tor to take ACS in a new exciting di- ings, on MARMAM, other listserves, Phinney Neighborhood Center, rection, as well as put a new “face” and in selected newspapers. Inter- Room 6, 6532 Phinney Ave. N., on our organization. While the Ex- views are in progress. Seattle, (just north of the Woodland ecutive Director will work closely Park Zoo). Doors open at 7pm and the program Baiji declared “functionally extinct” starts at 7:30pm. Plenty of free parking on December 13, 2006 is available in the upper and lower parking lots. Admission is free— An international expedition to search Baiji is functionally extinct. We lost donations to offset the room rental for a rare Chinese river dolphin has the race," Pfluger said in a statement costs are gratefully appreciated of ended without a single sighting, and released by the expedition. "It is a course as we operate on a shoestring researchers said Wednesday that the tragedy, a loss not only for China, but like almost all nonprofits. aquatic mammal is facing imminent for the entire world. We are all in- extinction. credibly sad." Inside... A few of the white Yangtze River The baiji, shy and nearly blind, is one Sound Science .....................................2 dolphins, known as baiji, may still of the world's oldest dolphin species, Economics of Lower Snake exist in the massive waterway that dating back some 20 million years. River Dam Removal........................3,5 cuts through eastern China, but their Scientists believe their disappearance Iceland Whale Hunting—Why?.....4,5 numbers are insufficient to stave off would be the first instance of a large VHP—A Gift from the SRKW… ...5 extinction, said August Pfluger, the aquatic mammal being driven to ex- Killer Whale Pod of Many Nations..6 Swiss co-leader of the expedition. tinction since hunting killed off the Caribbean monk seal circa 1952. 2006 Conference Review...................7 Volume 8 Issue 1 "We haveWhulj to accept the fact that the Winter (Continued2007 — page on page 1 2) NEWSLETTER OF THE PUGET SOUND CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN CETACEAN SOCIETY Whulj Sound Science: Presenting an “the saltwater we know” Ecosystem View The Newsletter of the Puget Sound Chapter of Puget Sound of the American Cetacean Society On January 16, 2007, eleven regional collaborators including P.O. Box 17136 government agencies, non-profits, and academia presented Seattle, WA 98127-0836 Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire with a re- 206-734-4737 port entitled Sound Science. This document is unique in [email protected] that it takes an ecosystem view of the Puget Sound and will provide a framework for ongoing recovery efforts including ACS/PS Board the Governor’s own initiative to help restore Puget Sound OFFICERS: by 2020 (see Whulj volume 7, issue 1). President - Uko Gorter, [email protected] The report consists of five sections: Problems and Oppor- Vice President - Ann Stateler, tunities for Puget Sound, Management of Puget Sound on [email protected] an ecosystem scale, The Puget Sound Ecosystem: Changing Treasurer - Joe Olson, ecological and human components, The Future of Puget [email protected] Sound, and the Key Findings. Secretary - Candice Emmons, [email protected] This report is a great reference for all of us that care about BOARD MEMBERS: the future of Puget Sound and all the wildlife that call it Chapter Delegate: Uko Gorter, [email protected] home. It is available online from the Northwest Fisheries Conservation: Ann Stateler, Science Center’s website: http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/ [email protected] events/workshops/science_symposium/documents/ Education: Peggy Foreman, soundscience2007.pdf [email protected] Fundraising: Darcie Larson, Bajii (continued from page 1) [email protected] Overfishing and shipping traffic, whose engines interfere General Meetings: Joe Olson, with the sonar the baiji uses to navigate and feed, are likely [email protected] the main reasons for the mammal's declining numbers, Pflu- Grants: Stephanie Norman, ger said. Though the Yangtze is polluted, water samples [email protected] taken by the expedition every 50 kilometers (30 miles) did Membership: Uko Gorter, not show high concentrations of toxic substances, the state- [email protected] ment said. For nearly six weeks, Pfluger's team of 30 scien- Past President: Joe Olson, [email protected] tists scoured a heavily trafficked 1,700-kilometer (1,000- Technology: Joe Olson, mile) stretch of the Yangtze, where the baiji once thrived. [email protected] The expedition's two boats, equipped with high-tech bin- At-Large Bonnie Gretz oculars and underwater microphones, trailed each other an [email protected] hour apart without radio contact so that a sighting by one vessel would not prejudice the other. ACS/PS Scientific Advisors Around 400 baiji were believed to be living in the Yangtze Dr. David Bain, Dr. Robin Baird, John Calambokidis, in the 1980s. The last full-fledged search, in 1997, yielded 13 Dr. Marilyn Dahlheim, Dr. John Ford, confirmed sightings, and a fisherman claimed to have seen a Dr. Richard Osborne, Dr. Adam Pack, baiji in 2004, Pfluger said in an earlier interview. At least 20 and Dr. Peter Ross to 25 baiji would now be needed to give the species a chance to survive, the group's statement said citing Wang Whulj publication schedule: February, May, August, November Ding, a hydrobiologist and China's foremost campaigner for Editor - Diane Allen, [email protected] - 360-437-1303 the baiji. 46 Village Way, suite 171, Port Ludlow WA 98365 Sources: China Daily and Baiji.org submissions, comments, suggestions, and questions welcomed page 2 — Winter 2007 Whulj Volume 8, Issue 1 NEWSLETTER OF THE PUGET SOUND CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN CETACEAN SOCIETY New Economic Report Looks at Lower Snake River Dam Removal By the Numbers. By Darcie Larson, Save Our Wild Salmon Associate Director and ACS Puget Sound Board Member With the listing of the Southern Resident orca population sive failed federal salmon program. Federal Columbia Ba- as endangered under Federal law, attention is being fo- sin salmon “recovery” efforts with the four lower Snake cused on what can be done to recover these whales. River dams in place today costs about $600 million per Number two on the list of five recommended actions in year. Despite these exorbitant costs, the plan remains in- NOAA Fisheries’ Orca Recovery Plan is “support salmon adequate. In 2005, for the fourth time in twelve years, a restoration”. Did you know that the largest salmon- federal court ruled it illegal, and ordered it rewritten. producing river system on earth was once the Columbia and Snake Rivers? Historically up to 16 million salmon When combining the expected costs of recovery with the returned to spawn each year, yet now only about 1 million required costs of maintaining and operating these dams, fish return, and most of these are hatchery produced fish Revenue Stream finds the total cost of recovery with the rather than wild spawners. If we are going to save the four dams in place at $8-9 billion over the next ten years Southern Resident orcas from extinction, it is critical to and $16-18 billion over twenty years. However, the total bring back as many wild salmon as we possibly can. The costs associated with dam removal are significantly less – loss of Columbia/Snake salmon was identified as probably the replacement of the dams’ current services with alterna- having the largest impact on prey availability for the orcas tives range from $6-9 billion over the next ten years and in the Recovery Plan. Columbia and Snake Chinook are $11-16 billion over a twenty year period. The result a net likely particularly critical to the orcas, as recent studies savings for ratepayers and taxpayers of between $1-4 bil- show the Southern Resident’s preference for these large, lion. fatty fish. Upper Snake River Chinook runs must migrate up to 900 miles from the ocean and gain 6,000 feet in ele- Replacing the energy, transportation, and irrigation. vation, a feat which requires very large fat stores. Revenue Stream’s analysis focuses on both the costs of dam removal and also the cost of replacing the limited How can we restore Columbia and Snake salmon? benefits that the dams currently provide – energy, trans- For years, scientists have told us clearly that removing portation, and irrigation. These dams currently produce four out-dated dams on the Lower Snake River will be only 5% of the power for the Pacific Northwest.
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