Letter: An orca says whales aren’t the ones to blame for fewer salmon

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, March 11, 2026

I am a Southern Resident orca, and I think it is time to explain some things.

A recent letter to the editor said it would be OK with my family going extinct if it meant the difference between him being able to eat chinook salmon or not. Frankly, I feel the same way about him, because humans are the ones who are starving me. Well, the European settlers who arrived 200 years ago or so are starving me, because they have over-fished, over-logged, overdeveloped, and over-dammed what used to be the best salmon habitat on earth.

The Tribes who arrived first, over 10,000 years ago, managed the fish just fine until the new settlers arrived. You really should be listening to the Tribes about how to fix this. Breaching the four Lower Snake River dams is necessary if their fish recovery plans are to have any chance of success. This would also honor treaty rights. We orcas consider them family, because they consider us and the salmon as family.

All I can say is this: If salmon runs recover enough to feed me and my family, that means there will be enough salmon for a decent harvest for all.

For now, I starve for lack of healthy chinook salmon runs. And I watch humans who are about to lose the best salmon runs and habitat on earth, and who don’t seem to realize that we are all connected, and that a failed ecosystem will starve humans, as well.

Translated from the original Orca by:

Marjorie Millner

Vancouver, Wash.