The Daily Strawman strikes again!

You can stop using racial slurs, but that's not going to end racism. . . .

Yanking the Snake River dams won't do anything for the orcas. We already have evidence that yanking the Elwha dams (a good thing, by the way) has not yet increased salmon returns. Maybe 50 more years out we will see something. The Snake process is set back farther (the Elwha process is ~25 years in, right now), and then the hypothetical fish from the Snake would still have all the other Columbia River dams to deal with. So, 75 years out, all current southern resident orcas will be past their reproductive years.

I'm pretty sure almost everybody knows this already.

1000 people deciding not to have Chinook for dinner is going to have more impact than 1000 blog posts and comments complaining that it doesn't do enough.

I would need to see that $1 per month raise in my bill guaranteed in writing for at least 8 years before believing it. Seattle City Light raised our bills more than that to put in electronic meters and implement a new billing system. This sounds suspiciously like a Kubly/SDOT style estimate that over promises and underperforms while costing more. Thank you for giving me permission to drive my car and run my A/C guilt free.

It's a start.

This whole issue is a comical farce.

How come no mention of the state's own study showing that the out of control sea lion and seal population has a bigger impact on salmon runs than ALL OTHER FACTORS COMBINED.

Another report done by the Canadians stated that sea lions and seals are eating 6x as much salmon(in pounds) than ALL FISHERIES(tribal, commercial, sport) combined.

We all know whey this isn't brought up..its because it doesn't fit a certain agenda.

Bullshit like this is why some people have had enough of the chicken little crap spewed by the left....you got zero credibility. Nothing but an angle to grab more cash.

fuck you, i'm grilling a salmon tonight....and my AC in running real nice. Think we might even go boating this weekend.

@10 Good point! As you suggest, if marine mammals stopped eating salmon, there would be a lot more salmon out there for marine mammals to eat.

@11

completely misses the point..well done! you win a participation trophy!

The seals and sea lions have been federally protected since 1972, and their population is now out of control...ever been to marina? or do you not go more than 3 blocks from cap hill? real world things outside the Hill probably scare you -no safe places to run to and cry.

@10 Oh! Is that why!?!?!

I heard it was because the coastal elites refer to the midwest as "flyover country"

Nothing to be done = let's do nothing.

Harold Pinter is rolling in his grave...

I’m a little disturbed here by the lack of mention of any of the other salmon runs that factor-heavily-into the Southern Resident’s diet. The Columbia-Snake River system provides an important source of food for the SRKW in the winter months. They feed off other salmon runs the rest of the year. By myopically focusing on breaching the Snake River Dams, we are doing the orcas a grave disservice. We need to be talking about the other 75% of their food source as well if we want them to survive. I agree while heartedly that the dams need to be breached, but I’m really concerned about the failure to focus on other key runs as well in addition to the significant amount of misinformation there is out there. Snake River Salmon do not now nor have they ever populated the Salish Sea or Puget Sound. We need to be focusing on salmon runs that feed into the areas where the SRKW spend the most time in addition to the Snake. I’m heartened to see so many people point out that if many people take an action (like not eating Chinook, changing cleaning products, etc) it can have an impact even if just one person doing the same thing would not. If we truly care about saving these whales folks, we need to be doing anything and everything we can to help recover them. Why in the world would people that love them and want them to survive not want action focused on all of their prey?

I kind of like the new journalist advertisements at the bottom of each article. I think what I like the most is Katie enjoys natural disasters. I have a new respect for this person. (Not for her writings but as a person). It also makes it easier to understand her unique views of all these topics. I will have to go back and read them again. It might take till 2027, but I promise I will do it.

Every seal or sea lion eats 35-40 pounds of salmon, every day. As noted by a UW professor the other day on NPR, human salmon consumption plays an insignificant role in salmon runs. If it makes you feel prettier, thats fine, but shooting seals (who have unfortunately become a huge problem due to overpopulation) and removing dams is where its at to save the orcas.

Thank you for this bubble bursting, Katie. It's a hard pill to swallow (I'd say impossible for most Americans), but your individual choices don't mean shit. The church of American individualism pretty much cripples the left in this country. Vote for Wall Street Democrats, pat yourself on the back for riding your bike to work, shame people for eating salmon, and wonder why the country just keeps going farther & farther to the right.

@17:

I guess that would make sense - IF the sea lion population were anywhere near as large as the human population. Granted, each human doesn't eat 35 - 40 pounds of salmon per day, but given the sheer numbers, I would venture to guess that total amount of salmon consumed by the latter group is more than equivalent to that consumed by the former.

What a pile of horse shit. The Columbia salmon are extinct! They will never return no matter how many dams you tear down. Blaming other animals is ridiculous! Only humans decimate the sea with a driftnet Wall of Death killing everything in it's path. My 1950s catholic family ate Salmon or other fish at least once a week but I haven't done that in 40 years. It's easy. Save the orca, go vegan and use less plastic.

@4 "We already have evidence that yanking the Elwha dams has not yet increased salmon returns." Where is that evidence? Would love to read/see it as i haven't found any. Thanks!

Visit DamSense.org for actual information on the topic of:

Salmon (Chinook are not excink from the Snake and their numbers would do marvellously if we removed the dams).

SRKWs (turns out they eat salmon not words or blog posts)

Power generations (these dams actually are generating excess power that is sold on these surplus market at a loss to BPA)

There is real possibility of breaching these dams in 2018 with political and public support.
This does not take an act of congress! And it would make more of a difference than talk of use or lack of use of plastic straws on the internet...

Lets be the change we want to see!

Correction, 75 members of Southern Resident Killer Whales currently.

@23 slide 14 shows no increase in natural production of Chinook or steelhead

https://wdfw.wa.gov/commission/meetings/2017/09/sep0817_14_presentation.pdf

These kind articles are what gives people pause, making people feel hopeless and feel like there's nothing that they can do to help. It's a start, it's something, and it matters. Inflammatory articles like this are a waste of everyone's time. Please stop publishing them.

@HW3 - that presentation only has data until 2017! With the Elwha dams coming out in 2012 and 2014, the first full open season was only in 2015! So isn't the first year during which we see a meaningful impact - given that the salmons spend 3 or more years out in the ocean - now in 2018?
What you're saying sounds to me a little like coming home to a cold home in the middle of winter, turning on the heat and then complain that 5 minutes later the house isn't warm yet! It doesn't work like that - you got to have a little bit of practice!

ups... please read above: "you got to have a little bit of patience!"