Orca Salmon Alliance Calls on Governor Inslee to Form Emergency Task Force

Today, the Orca Salmon Alliance, a coalition of 16 conservation groups, called on Governor Jay Inslee to form an emergency task force to prevent the extinction of two emblems of the Pacific Northwest: Chinook salmon and orcas.

The group's response comes a week after Governor Inslee was briefed on the alarming population decline of the Southern Resident orca as part of the Results WA Initiative. Only 76 individual Southern Resident orcas remain in the waters of Puget Sound, the lowest population count in decades. Governor Inslee agreed that Washington is in a state of emergency with the Southern Resident orcas and solicited ideas for an “advanced focused effort” to recover this iconic species. 

"Time is running out for the Southern Resident orca, and we must act now or this species will be gone forever," said Robb Krehbiel, Northwest representative for Defenders of Wildlife, a member of the Orca Salmon Alliance. "We call on Governor Inslee to form a taskforce with partners from conservation organizations, research institutions, the state of Washington and other stakeholders so that together, we can prevent the extinction of orcas and Chinook salmon." 

"The survival of the Southern Resident orca community depends on recovering Chinook salmon in Puget Sound, the Columbia Basin, Fraser River and throughout West Coast rivers," said Rein Attemann, Puget Sound advocacy manager with the Washington Environmental Council and member of the Orca Salmon Alliance. "The survival of our orca populations is tied directly to the health of the entire Sound, this should be a wakeup call to our region that our own health, economy and culture are threatened if the Sound isn't thriving.”

"What we’re looking at now on the risk side for not acting or not acting as aggressively is extinction for Southern Resident orcas," said Sheida Sahandy, executive director for the Puget Sound Partnership, the state agency leading the recovery of Puget Sound.