“A Terrible and Sickening Spectacle”: The Penn Cove Roundup and the Environmental Politics of the Salish Sea

• In Event: Life and Death in the Public Eye: Animal Bodies, Environmental Culture, and Regional Identity

Abstract

On 8 August 1970, the environmental politics of the Salish Sea changed forever. On that date, purse seiners hired by the Seattle Marine Aquarium captured the entire population of southern “resident” killer whales—some 80 animals in all—in full view of horrified onlookers in Penn Cove, Whidbey Island. Although the aquarium’s owner, Ted Griffin, had conducted similar operations, he was unprepared for the “fearsome” public backlash. After removing several calves for sale to oceanariums, he released the remaining animals, but public fury only grew when the carcasses of three orca calves later turned up in the cove. The ensuing controversy brought state regulation of orca capture and helped spur passage of the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act. But it also influenced the values and identity of the transborder Pacific Northwest.

This paper will examine the impact of the Penn Cove roundup on the Salish Sea region and on U.S. environmental policy. Although residents of the Pacific Northwest had long prided themselves on a rugged culture of fishing and hunting, the “sickening” spectacle of local fishing boats corralling pods of increasingly iconic orcas underscored the postwar clash between the working-class extractive economy and middle-class recreational values. It also exacerbated ecological anxieties, with many residents agreeing with State Senator Peter Francis that “there seems to be no controls over the destruction of sea life in Puget Sound.” Drawing upon interviews, government archives, private letters, and news reports, the paper will explore this intersection of animal capture, regional identity, and environmental politics.

Author

• Jason Colby, University of Victroria