DFO, SARA and Transient Killer Whales

DFO has cast its net wide to solicit feedback for the ongoing Species at Risk Act (SARA) recovery planning for the Transient Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) in Canada. Specifically, they seek new information related to two recovery documents for this population: a draft amended Recovery Strategy and a draft Action Plan.

With respect to the amended Recovery Strategy, DFO welcomes any new information with regard to Section 8.0 (Critical Habitat) of this draft document.

The good news is that the population of transient killer whales is slowly growing. The bad news is they remain threatened primarily by man-made pollutants, and their marine habitat exposes them to acoustic and phsyical disturbances from shipping and boating.

This Recovery Strategy identifies critical habitat for the Transient Killer Whale as all Canadian
Pacific marine waters bounded by a distance of three nautical miles (5.56 km) from the nearest
shore.
…
Under SARA, critical habitat must be legally protected within 180 days of being identified in a final recovery strategy or action plan and included in the Species at Risk Public Registry. For the Transient Killer Whale, it is anticipated that this will be accomplished through a SARA Critical Habitat Order made under subsections 58(4) and (5), which will invoke the prohibition in subsection 58(1) against the destruction of any part of the identified critical habitat.
amended Recovery Strategy

New prohibitions on activities within transient killer whale habitat may be appropriate. Enforcement of same by an agency that already seems overwhelmed managing our west coast fisheries may be challenging.

Proposed Expansion of Killer Whale “Critical Habitat”

Recent amendments to the Recovery Strategy for the Northern and Southern Resident Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) in Canada 2018 (proposed) expand the area to be included as critical habitat. Under the recovery strategy action plan, this area will be subject to measures that respond to perceived threats to killer whale survival. The threat of “Reduced prey availability” identifies “Fishing for Chinook Salmon, Chum Salmon, and other important prey species” and “Other activities that are detrimental to habitat and survival of prey (e.g. fishing for forage fish species)” as activities likely to result in the destruction of critical habitat. The images here are from the above linked document, and show the areas proposed.

Proposed NRKW critical habitat:

Proposed SRKW critical habitat: