Guest Opinion: My Baby Died . . . WE DID SOMETHING!

— by Toby Cooper and Janet Alderton —

The image of one big, powerful whale holding a single tiny deceased calf aloft, her palpable grief literally on worldwide display, has burned itself into our collective memory for good.  So many ask, what can we, right here in Eastsound, do about it?

Well, something has been done. Please join us in wholeheartedly thanking the Eastsound Planning and Review Commission (EPRC) for supporting unique steps we can take, right now, to help save our endangered Southern Resident Orca Whales.

On Thursday, October 4, the EPRC voted to petition the County Council to improve protection of the nearshore waters adjacent to town, around Indian Island, and in front of Crescent Beach through a variety of actions designed to support marine food webs. These protections will help the Chinook salmon upon which Orcas rely.

The waterside view from Darvill’s bookstore offers no hint of the abundant life just beneath the surface. The dense beds – fondly called “meadows” – of eelgrass, small invertebrates, and other critters create one of just four remaining spawning sites for Pacific herring in the county that are absolutely vital to saving the whales.  But the EPRC figured this out, deciding that without herring, Chinook salmon go hungry, and without Chinook . .  . well, that’s kind of the whole point.

“This is but one small piece of a very large puzzle .  .  .  but it’s OUR piece” remarked EPRC Co-Chair Paul Kamin after the unanimous vote.  This sentiment was echoed by Margaret Payne who authored the measure and was cheered by the public in attendance.

But there is more. The EPRC recognized that eelgrass is vulnerable, sensitive to not only to boats with anchors and anchor chains that the Nearshore Waters resolution seeks to move into deeper waters with voluntary anchor-out zones, but also to the inevitable contaminants carried to the Sound by runoff from Eastsound’s network of streets. Thus the Nearshore Waters resolution travels to the County Council together with a companion document supporting the acquisition of natural  wetlands to  help improve stormwater treatment in the village.

It is a blueprint that needs to be replicated throughout San Juan County’s shorelines.

Paul Kamin, of course, is spot on. It is a large puzzle. Other pieces are being placed on the table by the Marine Resources Committee, the Whale Museum, Friends of the San Juans, the Washington Department of Natural Resources, the Governor’s Task Force on Recovery of the SRKW, and others.  The hope is that it all dovetails to the benefit of the whales. The consequences of failure are horrific.

Thanks to all for supporting.