In her first interview since being indicted on federal charges, prominent Monterey Bay marine biologist Nancy Black adamantly denied feeding killer whales she was studying.

Black said she was conducting important research for the same governmental agency that sought her prosecution. That research is now being hampered, she said, causing real damage to the orcas.

"I was right at the level of getting very important data about toxic chemicals in killer whales," she said. "They have hindered research on killer whales because of this."

The irony is further driven home, Black said, by the fact that it was her discovery that killer whales were migrating from the Pacific Northwest to Monterey Bay, likely because of a decline in northern chinook salmon, that led the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to begin its study of the animal.

Black, co-owner of Monterey Bay Whale Watch, said her separate research work has all but stopped since 2006, when 15 armed agents and police stormed into her house with a search warrant. The impact then and now has been devastating, she said.

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