Orcas Get A Court Win

The Washington State Farm Bureau and the Building Industry Association of Washington had a federal judge's ruling go against them this week. Both groups were arguing to have the Orca de-listed as an Endangered Species because that classification determines what protections the Sound itself is afforded and, by extension, the waterways that feed the Sound and the land adjacent to those waterways.

From the Seattle Times:

A Farm Bureau representative said the ruling showed bias in that environmental groups can be heard in court while farmers have their cases tossed out without a trial.

"Real people will be harmed if orcas are unjustly protected," said John Stuhlmiller, the bureau's director of state affairs.

The judge threw out the challenge and Puget Sound resident Orcas will remain federally protected under the Endangered Species Act. The business groups failed to present evidence that they were being obstructed in any way by the Orca's Endangered Species designation and hey failed to prove to the judge that Southern Resident Orcas were not genetically distinct from the rest of the world's Orcas.

It's a big win in what has been a shit year for local Orca pods who suffered the death of a number of members this summer. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also designated areas of the Sound as critical habitat recently, and drafted a recovery plan so things are looking up for the 87 Southern Resident Orcas as well as for the salmon they eat and for the health of the Sound itself.

We couldn't ask for a better symbol of the natural world that contains us than the Orca. However, is it really the best idea to use Orcas as the fulcrum of our environmental efforts in and around the Sound? There are less than a hundred Orcas. If, Gaia forbid, they were to all die off does that make the Sound less worthy of environmental protections? There are, ahem, more fish in the sea, not to mention the positive effects a healthy Sound -with or without Orcas- would have on the resident human population. If we pin all of our Puget Sound protections to the Orca, does it all go up in smoke if the Orcas disappear?