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Over the past six years, the population of resident orcas in Washington's Puget Sound has declined nearly 20 percent. Despite this decline, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) elected not to protect the resident orcas under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), claiming it would not be a significant loss if the whales no longer resided in Puget Sound.

In December 2003 Earthjustice, working with several local conservation groups, won ESA protection for the orcas. This will force the NMFS to address the causes of their decline -- high levels of bioaccumulative toxins, a decline of wild salmon in the sound, and human disturbance from vessel traffic and noise -- enabling the orcas to once again thrive in the waters of Puget Sound.