Official Marine Mammal of Washington

It's not all work and hard-nosed politicking in the state senate. Every once in a while the senators enjoy popping the tops off a few cold ones and voting up a state mascot or something. Excuse us, "official marine mammal of Washington." That would be the orca, of course, and the senate voted 46-1 to pass the bill and send it up to the Governor who is expected to sign it. Killer whale hater Brian Weinstein of Mercer Island cast the "no" vote, arguing in favor of the seal or sea otter. Actually, the PI reports that he'll be happy to have orcas represent the state.

Hopefully the state's new representative will fare better than the official state fish of Washington: steelhead trout. (Thought it was going to be salmon, didn't you?) The National Marine Fisheries Service branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is about to begin a study into whether steelhead are worthy of an invite to the federal Endangered Species Act party. Fish biologist and concernd citizen Sam Wright filed the petition that sparked the study. A similar investigation in 1996 found that steelhead were not ready for the ESA.

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By Dan in News on April 6, 2005 10:40 AM

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Editor DFPS

Hey it is not like it took any time to vote or debate the Orca vote.

Yeah.. the Steelhead trout. I remember back when I fished with my dad in eastern Washington and we could actually eat the fish. Now you can't eat the freshwater fish thanks to the mercury poisoning from environmental protection de-regulation. That is a nice way of saying the energy pollution industry has screwed up our state's water for generations to come for a few years of profit.