Federal court rulings finally give wild orcas a place at the table for salmon harvests

One of the reasons the Southern Resident killer whale population in the Pacific Northwest is endangered is that its primary dietary staple—Chinook salmon—happens to be prized food for humans, too. And humans are bad at sharing: While Northwest salmon harvests are carefully regulated, divvied up between commercial, tribal, and sport fishermen, the federal authorities in charge of those decisions leave no place at the table for the orcas whose survival depends on the salmon.

A recent court ruling, however, could begin changing all that. Last week, a federal judge upheld a ruling that requires the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration to include the killer whales’ needs when dividing up the salmon harvest in southeastern Alaska—and slapped NOAA hard for its long-running insistence that harvesting those salmon, many of whom originate in the Southern Residents’ habitat, causes “no harm” to the orcas.