{"id":122204,"date":"2023-07-20T07:30:18","date_gmt":"2023-07-20T11:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=122204"},"modified":"2023-07-20T05:40:41","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T09:40:41","slug":"nyt-front-page-starving-orcas-and-the-fate-of-alaskas-disappearing-king-salmon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=122204","title":{"rendered":"(NYT front page) Starving Orcas and the Fate of Alaska\u2019s Disappearing King Salmon"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the waters of Puget Sound outside Seattle,\u00a073 beloved and endangered orcas<\/a>, known as the Southern Residents, are on the hunt, clicking. Using sound like a searchlight, they patrol the chilly depths. When they locate a target, they dive, sinking sharp white teeth into their preferred food, the fatty coral-colored flesh of king salmon.<\/p>\n

But in recent weeks, this ancient rhythm of the Pacific Northwest was being negotiated not just at sea but also in a federal courtroom in downtown Seattle, where on May 2 a district court judge\u00a0issued an order<\/a>\u00a0effectively shutting down Alaska\u2019s biggest king salmon fishery, one of the largest remaining in the world.<\/p>\n

To the\u00a0Wild Fish Conservancy<\/a>, the Washington State-based environmental group that filed the lawsuit, the fates of the two totemic animals are intimately bound. The orcas need the salmon to eat, and if we stop fishing them, the conservancy argues, we save the whales.<\/p>\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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"General anxiety in southeast Alaska is through the roof. People are freaking out,\u201d Ajax Eggleston said. \u201cThe health of the species? It\u2019s doomed, man. I\u2019m not optimistic about the future of trolling. We\u2019ll be eating bugs and farmed fish from New Zealand.\u201dhttps:\/\/t.co\/bLc8Oe1csX<\/a><\/p>\n

— Philip Gourevitch (@PGourevitch) July 19, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n