The Story of the Orcas and the Salmon, on the Endangered Species Act’s 50th Birthday

By Ben Jealous Thanks to 20th century aquariums and marine theme parks, orcas – also known as killer whales – are the most iconic whales in America.& When the public learned their captivity involved torture, orca shows disappeared from those parks, as they should have. Now there are signs that certain groups of orcas could disappear entirely.& Significantly, many of the orcas captured – including the famed Shamu – came from a small population of orcas whose trusting nature made them easy to catch. Southern Resident orcas, which historically spent the summer and fall months in Washington’s Puget Sound, are down to only 75 left in existence. Designated as “endangered” as of 2005, the Southern Residents remain one of the most critically endangered marine mammals in the United States.& But it’s a different human activity that is now making it hard for these creatures to survive. Dams that were constructed decades ago along the Columbia and Snake Rivers have greatly disrupted the populations of sockeye salmon – also now listed as an endangered species – that the Southern Residents depend on as a primary food source.& The impact of the loss of salmon has been devastating not only to the...