Despite improvements in sewage and industrial waste treatment since the 1970s, harmful levels of toxic chemicals have continued to be legally discharged into Puget Sound.

Read here: Toxic Chemicals in Puget Sound: The Impact of Mixing Zones on Permitted Discharges
 

10/24/08 Seattle Times

7 orcas, regular visitors to Sound, likely dead

By Lynda V. Mapes
Seattle Times staff reporter

Seven orcas that regularly visit Puget Sound are feared dead — if so, it would be the biggest die-off in about 10 years — and some experts say dwindling populations of chinook salmon are at least partly to blame.

Among the orcas missing since November are the oldest and youngest members of the group, as well as two females in their peak productive years.

"I was shocked," said David Dicks, executive director of the Puget Sound Partnership, scheduled to issue on Nov. 6 its draft plan for preserving and protecting Puget Sound.

The news of the orcas' decline adds to the urgency of the mission, Dicks said. "Time is not on our side."

Read the entire article here.


See also Kitsap Sun
Seven Puget Sound Orca Deaths Attributed to Lack of Food

See also Seattle PI
Are the orcas starving? As salmon runs decline, killer whale numbers take hardest hit since 1990s