How is my question about indian tribes killing whales “absurd”? Our local tribes kill Chinook salmon and they are also “protected” by the endangered species act.

As for your “pre-colonization” data… In my experience, “pre-colonization” conditions is often a romantic ideal that many people belonging to the groups you cite believe our recovery efforts should aspire to. It is unrealistic and – ultimately – robs the effort of credibility because of that. Frequently, it is also cited as a baseline to which we should measure. Unfortunately, no one knows what “pre-colonization” levels were. Speaking as if they do, shows a person’s bias, ignorance, and arrogance.

You can start with the Bald eagle status report ,2007 published on the WDFW web site, which gives a comprehensive review of not only eagles but other birds, de-forestation, and many other useful facts.

As far as Salmon runs and Herring stocks, I’ve read those facts in several articles, but don’t have exact references, but People for Puget Sound, PSP, as well as Seattle PI, and Vancouver Sun have search engines that will probably get you lots of info.

the takeaway for me on these posts, is to take the responsibility to find out about the state of our environment, and asking questions, will produce answers, and most of the answers are pretty grim. We all need to raise awareness.

In the same post he said: “Salmon, eagles, herring, etc are all only at 10% of pre colonization levels.”

So, I’ll ask a question. Jeff, where can one find the data on “pre-colonization” levels of salmon, eagles, herring, etc?

No wonder our whales die, our fish polluted…and who cares?
When do we take responsibility?
http://www.aneki.com/water_pollution.html

Sharon O’Hara

Peter Hamilton of Lifeforce had sent me some comments about human attitudes regarding orcas. I thought he wanted his observations posted on Watching Our Water Ways, so I did that. I found out later that he wanted me to forward them to our editorial page editor for possible inclusion in the newspaper.

At his request, I’ve removed his comments.

this is very sad news, and at some point we can only hope that real action will take place to restore the quality of water in the NW. Will the PSP action agenda do any good? Peter’s comment of “getting involved, its your world too” is really at the heart of the problem.

Those of us who try to get involved are met with comments like Blue Lights, that asks the absurd question if Native Americans killed the whales would anyone care? Ask yourself what is left of the natural resources that we took over stewardship of in the 1850′s from our Native American brothers. Salmon, eagles, herring, etc are all only at 10% of pre colonization levels.

Plenty of people care, but with over 80% of land ownership in private hands, it does come down to individuals changing the way we live, and develop the land. Everyone is for environmental protection, until it impinges on their property, their fishing trip, their hunting trip, their boat trip, their whale watching, their lifestyle.

Its not about who has the right answers, its about who asks the right questions.

The Puget Sound has been one of the most polluted bodies of water in the U.S. since 1993. We’ve lost 85% of wetlands, 50% of our forest cover, 70%-90% of shore birds, and on and on, but the numbers don’t seem to connect with people. The Salmon runs have been decimated for the last century, but as long as we still can go to the store and buy salmon, people don’t seem to care that they aren’t caught locally anymore.

So for those who do care, please support PSP, Friends of Puget Sound, Friends of the San Juan’s, LilyPoint.org and get involved, ask the questions, take responsibility to find out the answers and what you can do.

We all contribute to the problem, and we all need to contribute to the solution, so lets not point fingers… lets roll up our sleeves and get to work.