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Puget Sound Orcas endangered
As the salmon population declines, so do the number of Orcas. But it is not just the salmon, polution and global warming are also a threat to the Orcase. Experts fear extinction.
To address these issue, the Puget Sound Partnership called a special meeting, also to discuss the recent loss of seven orcas.
The economy of the area is based on these magnificent black and white creatures. Whale watching is good business.
John Boyd of Western Prince Tours said "Not just the whale watching industry, but all the other tourism based industries that tie in to it; restaurants, hotels, a lot of the merchants who sell merchandise that have whales on it. It is kind of an icon of this island."
Ken Balcomb, Director of the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor believes that years of swimming in polluted waters have now started to take their toll.
"All the products of humans, for our benefit, that are long-lived and that don't break down in biological systems, are accumulating in the whales."
Source:
Te Papa Whale exhibition in Washington, DC