Many people and organizations are working hard to bring back Pacific salmon. Fishing and habitat loss depressed salmon populations; some are on the endangered species list.
But some of the impacts do not come from people. Marine mammals are voracious eaters of salmon, and the mammals have been protected by law for nearly 50 years.
Recent research shows that while human harvest of chinook salmon dropped, killer whales and harbor seals ate more of the fish. Isaac Kaplan is lead author of the study, he and co-author Eric Ward join us to explore their findings.