Groups welcome rule to protect threatened orcas

Almost 300 endangered or threatened killer whales that ply the waters of the Pacific Northwest have improved habitat protection under a new Canadian government regulation.

The protection, under Canada's Species At Risk Act, covers the habitat of northern and southern resident killer whales, said Lara Tessaro of Ecojustice.

Southern resident orcas, which mostly frequent waters in Washington state and southern British Columbia, are endangered and number about 85. The northern orcas are considered a threatened species and have a population of about 200.

The order comes after Ecojustice and several other environmental groups launched a lawsuit last fall against the Canadian Department of Fisheries.

"It's the very first one ever issued under the Species At Risk Act, so it's a precedent-setting order," Tessaro said.

"What it means is that it is now an offense to destroy the critical habitat of resident killer whales. It designates, legally, their critical habitat as an area that attracts legal protection."

Southern resident orcas suffered a 20 percent decline between 1993 and 2003 before recovering slightly.

Northern resident whales' populations dropped by about 7 percent in recent years.

The declines are believed to be due to threats to their habitat, including pollution and declines in salmon stocks.

The order gives more strength to the section in the Species At Risk Act that prohibits destruction of the whales' habitat, she said.

Tessaro said the lawsuit will now likely be abandoned.

It was filed in reaction to a notice posted by the Fisheries department last fall claiming killer whales were already protected by other laws, regulations and guidelines.

Pardeep Ahluwalia, Department of Fisheries and Oceans director-general for species at risk management, described the order as "another tool" to protect critical habitat.

In March 2008, Fisheries released a recovery strategy for the two populations with four goals including ensuring food supply, that pollution or humans don't prevent their recovery, and critical habitat areas are protected.

Last September, Fisheries published a "protection statement" as a followup to the recovery strategy, said Ahluwalia.

"We were of the view (then) that the protection statement provided the tools we needed to protect the critical habitat of killer whales."

But that was later deemed insufficient.

"We reviewed the tools we were using and we were of the view that perhaps the order would provide a stronger level of protection than the protection statement."

Ahluwalia said the order gives them tools to protect the whales, including making sure there's a sustainable management plan for the salmon eaten by killer whales.

"It just gives us more flexibility and allows us more tools to be brought to play and that's why we think it provides a stronger measure of protection than the protection statement did.

Resident killer whales don't migrate long distances but range over specific areas off the B.C. coast and Washington State coasts and around Vancouver Island, feeding on local fish. The pods have distinct cultural and genetic identities.