Tell leaders to give southern resident killer whales a lifeline!
Photo: Centre for Whale Research
Join the call: Salish Sea orcas need emergency protections
For too long, southern resident killer whales, also known as Salish Sea orcas, have struggled with major threats such as noise and vessel disturbance, contaminants and the decline of their main prey, Chinook salmon.
The endangered orcas already needed a lifeline. Instead, they got a new pipeline. The newly completed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (TMX) is projected to increase tanker traffic sevenfold in the Salish Sea.
Southern residents need emergency protections to pull them back from the brink.
These protections should:
- Reduce noise and disturbance from vessels travelling in or near southern resident foraging areas.
- Ensure orca access to and rebuilding of Chinook salmon populations.
- Increase wild Chinook salmon accessibility for southern residents, including extending the period of existing fishing closures in key foraging areas.
- Prohibit further increases of shipping from new, federally approved, industrial projects in the Salish Sea until a cumulative effects management plan that addresses underwater noise is in place, as promised by the government when it approved TMX.
- Prohibit discharge of scrubber wastewater, bilge and greywater from any vessel in or near the habitat of the southern residents.
Send your letter. Tell the federal government to protect southern residents now!