OC Makes Comment on Fisheries off West Coast States: West Coast Salmon Fisheries; Amendment 21 to the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan

Orca Conservancy's comments address points beyond the scope of Amendment 21, because Amendment 21 needs to be considered in the context of all the cumulative effects on Southern Resident killer whales (SRKWs), and whether Amendment 21 will place them in jeopardy of extinction depends on how other matters are handled.

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and Council fisheries management policies have been far too reactive and insufficiently anticipatory of environmental changes that will likely bode ill for salmon and the critically endangered SRKW population in the foreseeable future. Therefore, for reasons we will discuss, instead of a Draft Environmental Assessment (DEA) for Amendment 21 to the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan (FM), an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is warranted.

Meaning an EIS is REQUIRED to appropriately evaluate all effects changes have on Chinook salmon populations, and SRKW, which ultimately are affected by Council fisheries decisions. 

These comments are in honor and remembrance of K21 (Cappuccino) 1986 - 7/2021.