Report: Rising Oceans Mean More Trouble for WA Species
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Already endangered salmon, orcas and other species could see much of their habitat washing away due to rising sea levels brought on by global warming, according to a new report from the National Wildlife Federation. Including Puget Sound, Washington has more coastline than California, and the report warns that coastline is at risk. Patty Glick with the Federation says there isn't a lot of healthy coastal habitat left to lose.
"We've had more than a century of urban development on the coast and all sorts of activities. We've lost already about 70 percent of our coastal wetlands."
Glick notes the rising waters will have a huge economic impact on the region, limiting accessibility to shellfish fisheries and further hurting salmon numbers. She adds that those rising waters mean more loss of critical habitat.
"We've armored our beaches and other shoreline with other bulkhead and seawalls. About a third of our shoreline has been modified. So this makes the remaining habitat all the more important for the fish and wildlife that depend on them."
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