Orca Whales - The Ones Native to the Nothern Coast of North America

The Orca Whale and Why Some of Them Are Dying

Polychlorinated Biphenals (PCBs) were used as insulators in electrical equipment. They were extremely useful to society and were commonly used in paint, pesticides, and used alongside other chemicals until they were banned in the U.S. in the late 1970s. What had seemed like the miracle compound was exposed to be a highly toxic chemical that affects all animals negatively, damaging neurological development and the reproductive and immune systems in all individuals affected, particularly those on top of the food chain. Because of the dangers of this chemical, further action should be taken regarding PCBs if we want to save Puget Sound’s orca whales. The depletion of the orca whale population in Washington’s waters is caused by noise pollution from vessels and low salmon runs as well, but both of these are more easily managed than the problems with PCBs.
Since orcas, like humans and harbor seals, consume other animals that, in turn, consume others, the process of bioaccumulation intensifies the PCBs in their systems. The few molecules of PCBs that affect the tiny organisms in the marine ecosystem build up in the small fish that eat many of them. Then, the ocean-going adult salmon eat several small fish, and orcas eat numerous salmon, and as a result the whale’s bodies contain far greater concentrations of this chemical in their bodies than do the animals that are directly affected. In a study on beluga whales in Canada’s St. Lawrence estuary, it was found that PCBs in their systems caused symptoms like susceptibility to disease, tumors, and skeletal deformities. Northwest orcas are known to have between four and five times as strong a concentration as the belugas. Severe destruction of the reproductive system can result in death of mothers and starvation of their young who can no longer be fed, and damaged immune systems create widespread disease; a single persistent virus could wipe out large percentages of a given population.
Although PCBs were banned in the United States thirty years ago, they do not decompose and have stayed in sediments or in the blubber of the long-lived orcas for that period of time. Also, more of this chemical crosses the Pacific Ocean from Asian countries, where it has not yet been banned, every year. The scientific debate is whether to cover the PCBs in the sediments with clean soil and hope that it does not resurface or to remove the tainted deposits and risk releasing PCBs into the water. Because as long as the contamination remains in the ecosystem, it could affect the environment, the best course of action would be to remove the offending chemicals from the sediment near the plants where they were used and destroy them by burning at 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit.
PCBs are one of the major causes of the endangerment of the orcas in Puget Sound. Since a good deal of the pollution comes from Asia and it is affecting American whales, Asian legislation would be helpful, but the chances of this occurring are slim in comparison to efforts that can be made in Washington. If the PCBs contained in the silts of Puget Sound near plants that have not actually used it since the 1970s were removed and permanently destroyed, this would help incredibly in saving these majestic animals that are so similar to humans. Since they can be a canary in the coalmine for us in relation to PCBs, when they start dying, we have to be on alert because humans are probably next. The orcas must be saved.

Kelsey, with input by Emma and Friend