The iconic orca, or killer whale, should swim free of federal protection, a farmer from California's San Joaquin Valley urged in a petition filed Thursday. Backed by a conservative legal advocacy group based in Sacramento, Fresno County farmer Joe Del Bosque and his allies argue that the population of killer whales often found in Pacific Northwest waters doesn't deserve defending under the Endangered Species Act. Protecting the whales also costs farmers precious water, growers say. "It seems almost outrageous that a whale out in the ocean is restricting our water," Del Bosque said. "Restrictions in the water flows are definitely affecting us." The petition, prepared by the Pacific Legal Foundation, asks the Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service to change the status of the so-called "southern resident" population of killer whales from endangered. The population was listed as endangered in 2005, after a pronounced decline in its numbers...
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So how does a killer whale swimming in the ocean affect an ag producer on the land? Its about diet:
Hungry killer whales particularly like to gobble up chinook salmon. Indirectly, this causes a problem for certain farmers. In order to protect the salmon population, in part to help feed the killer whales, federal officials restrict irrigation-water deliveries in the San Joaquin Valley.
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