To the editor:

Of three main groups of gray whales in the world, the Atlantic Ocean group is now extinct, the Pacific Northwest Ocean group is critically endangered and the Pacific Northeast group, which includes Puget Sound, was once on the endangered species list. Its feeding habitat, mostly ghost shrimp, is disappearing in the Bering and Chukchi seas because of global warming.

The EPA reports that since 1980, more than 30,000 acres of commercial shellfish growing areas in Puget Sound have been closed to harvest because of pollution.

So, as local commercial shellfish harvesting becomes more intense in the remaining open areas, it encroaches on and threatens the gray whale feeding habitat.

It is not unusual for grays to wash up dead around Puget Sound because of starvation. DFW Ralph Downes’ statement that “critters that live in the water are pretty good at managing small changes” is no consolation to the many animal species that are now extinct because of human activities.

Depleting the gray whales’ food source is not a minor change, as Mr. Downes reports. The ghost shrimpers are not extracting just a “drop in the bucket”; the reality is that without true regulation, there will be thousands of drops in thousands of buckets.

The Department of Natural Resources lists a number of animals in its Aquatic Lands Habitat Conservation Plan that are threatened or endangered; a number of those on the list visit or inhabit Whidbey Shores. Whidbey Shores is indeed pristine; it is also a fragile ecosystem for which everyone, not just the residents, is responsible.

If we, as human beings, do not stand up for helpless aquatic animals and the fragile environments that they rely on, then we stand for nothing.

Laura Valente

Langley