Author Archives: Janet Thomas

1908, 2019

Administration Sued for Failing to Protect Endangered West Coast Orcas

By Janet Thomas|August 19, 2019|News, Orca Relief, Press Releases, Protection Zone, SRKWs|

Lawsuit Calls for ‘Whale Protection Zone’ As More Southern Residents Die SEATTLE— Conservation groups sued the Trump administration today for ignoring a legal petition to protect critically endangered Southern Resident killer whales in the heart of their Salish Sea habitat. Today’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington by the Center for Biological Diversity and Orca Relief Citizens’ Alliance (ORCA), follows news that three more of these starving orcas

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1608, 2018

Environmentalists sue federal government in Seattle to protect endangered orcas

By Janet Thomas|August 16, 2018|News, Orca Relief, Protection Zone, SRKWs, Whales|

From the Seattle Times: An environmental conservation group has sued the federal government, alleging it failed to meet its obligation to protect the habitat of endangered southern-resident killer whales on the West Coast. The lawsuit was filed Thursday by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) [and Orca Relief] to hold the government accountable for allegedly violating the Endangered Species Act by not acting on a 2014 petition filed by CBD

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0808, 2018

ORCA and Center for Biological Diversity to Sue NMFS

By Janet Thomas|August 8, 2018|News, Orca Relief, Protection Zone, SRKWs|

On behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity and Orca Relief Citizens’ Alliance, we are writing to notify you that the Secretary and the National Marine Fisheries Service (collectively, “the Service”) are violating the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. §§ 500 et seq., for their failure to respond to our petition to designate a Southern Resident killer whale protection zone. Time is of the essence is protecting the endangered Southern

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1309, 2016

Olympic National Park: Fish continue to recolonize Elwha watershed

By Janet Thomas|September 13, 2016|Salish Sea, Salmon|

PORT ANGELES — Adult chinook salmon, sockeye salmon, steelhead and bull trout were spotted in the upper Elwha River last month, the latest evidence of post-dam removal recolonization, fisheries biologists said. Recent monitoring has revealed that the fish have passed upstream through the former Elwha and Glines Canyon dam sites, Olympic National Park officials said. The observation is based on snorkel surveys that spotted fish but did not show the

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