Why this action is needed:
In early June, Ecojustice, representing GSA and five other conservation groups, petitioned the Ministers of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and Environment and Climate Change (ECCC) to recommend an emergency order under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) to protect the remaining 74 endangered SRKW. This emergency order would enable immediate government intervention to address the critical threats to the whales’ survival, which are dramatically increasing, and offer the critical protections necessary to allow this population to survive.
With a projected sevenfold increase in tanker traffic due to Trans Mountain operations in the Salish Sea that started hitting the water this May, the cumulative impacts of oil tankers and marine shipping in the marine environment will lead to a drastic increase in underwater noise pollution, especially if we see further increases to marine shipping activity from any new federally approved industrial project (like the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 expansion project).
A cumulative effects management plan should include:
- A reduction in underwater noise and disturbance from vessels, especially near foraging areas, including the implementation of a 1,000m buffer zone, like Washington State
- The implementation of prey management strategies to rebuild wild Chinook salmon populations that are declining (which are SRKW’s preferred prey)
- A reduction in the discharge of toxic contaminants from vessels that directly harm SRKW and their food source
Southern residents need emergency protections to pull them back from the precipice of extinction, and we all have a part to play in making sure this does not happen.
Join the call to save the southern resident orcas before it’s too late!