NOAA seeks comments on summer whale hunts (PDN, March 19.)
But beware the deception in one popular talking point, two or three whales per year will not harm the overall population.
The overall population is NOAA’s estimate of the entire Eastern North Pacific gray whale population, 19,000 in all.
In summer, they feed in Arctic waters, far from here.
The only grays summering in the hunt zone are residents, part of the 220 Pacific Coast Feeding Group whales (PCFG).
PCFG whales long ago found enough food between California and Vancouver Island to find home ranges on the coast and cease the Arctic migration.
Time has brought changes: They have shorter bodies and heads, they consume prey from shallow and rocky areas, and they have developed novel feeding behaviors.
The PCFG even have unique mtDNA.
Many scientists insist the PCFG meets criteria for protection as a stock, distinct from the Eastern North Pacific.
But in hunts permitted only for the 19,000 Eastern North Pacific whales, NOAA keeps the PCFG huntable by denying stock status and defining them as part of the 19,000 Eastern North Pacific.
About 33 PCFG whales feed and raise young on the north Washington coast and Strait. They alone will be present to take the harpoon and rifle hits this summer. Their tiny numbers cannot survive any quota.
Tell NOAA: Let these few precious grays live and feed in peace. No summer hunts.
Margaret Owens
Joyce