As salmon go, so go the killer whales

California's degraded rivers and voracious water demand are not just a local problem. They threaten to exterminate a unique population of Pacific killer whales, federal scientists have found.

In a draft ruling, the National Marine Fisheries Service says the southern resident population of killer whales may go extinct because its primary food – salmon – is imperiled by the state's vast network of dams and canals.

This killer whale population is a unique species, already endangered under federal law. They number only 84 animals. They normally reside in and near Puget Sound, but in recent years have spent more time off Central California.

Killer whales, also called orcas, never venture into freshwater. But their food does. The Sacramento River's salmon runs are the largest on the West Coast, but declining.

The fisheries service last month determined that Central Valley salmon populations will go extinct unless state and federal agencies change their water operations in California. After further study, it now believes killer whales will follow salmon into the grave.

"There's so many parts of our (aquatic) system that depend on salmon," said Maria Rea, Sacramento-area supervisor of the National Marine Fisheries Service. "It does really highlight the interconnected nature of what happens in the Central Valley and the Delta to the ocean."

The California Department of Water Resources and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation operate separate systems of dams, canals and pumps that are key to both urban and farm water supplies in the state. Though other factors contribute to the fish declines, including water pollution, the water projects have been targeted for much of the blame.

As part of its final report, the fisheries service has the power to impose new operating rules on the water systems to protect fish. It has not revealed what these recommendations will be, but they could dramatically change water supplies – and water bills – across California. The recommendations are expected this spring.

Rea's agency is assessing the effect of California water operations on four protected species: winter- and spring-run salmon, Central Valley steelhead and green sturgeon. A key focus of the report is to minimize threats to these species caused by water diversions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the hub for 60 percent of California's freshwater supplies.

Several observers said the link between salmon and the charismatic orca is certain to elevate California's water conflicts in the public mind.

Though last year was historically bad for California fish and water supplies, restoration of the state's Delta and rivers has yet to grab the public's imagination like environmental problems in Florida's Everglades or the Brazilian rain forest. Much of the debate over the Delta has focused on the tiny Delta smelt, a threatened species few people have seen.

The orca could change the game.

"It's not just an obscure little fish anymore," said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermens Associations. "It's all one ecosystem."

Ken Balcomb, executive director of the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, Wash., has studied the southern population of killer whales for more than 30 years. He estimates salmon are about 80 percent of the killer whale's diet.

The population eats about 500,000 salmon a year to sustain itself, he said. To reach a healthier population of 100 to 120 orcas, it would need about 30 percent more salmon.

Coincidentally, Balcomb grew up in Carmichael and spent most of his free time as a teenager along the American River. He saw Folsom Dam built in the 1950s.

"I remember the river changing," he said. "All things are connected. Our own neighborhoods are part of this ecosystem fabric that we have to restore."

Among the fixes the fisheries service is weighing, Rea said, is installation of fish ladders on major dams that sealed off hundreds of miles of salmon habitat in California rivers decades ago. One example is Folsom Dam.

If the agency required fish ladders to reopen this habitat, it would cost water agencies – and ratepayers – billions.

Water agency leaders were unwilling to comment on whether they're prepared to pay for such projects.

Laura King-Moon, assistant general manager of the State Water Contractors, said a key concern is whether other factors, such as ocean health, share the blame.

"It still begs the question of whether our activities are causing the decline of these these species," she said. "That is the key to our willingness to pay for things like that."

Rea said the fisheries service also may propose new hatchery practices to enhance fall-run chinook salmon. It is the most populous Central Valley salmon species, and therefore, the most important to killer whales.

The fall run set a historic population low in 2008, prompting regulators to ban commercial salmon fishing in California and Oregon. A similar ban is likely again this year.