(Photo by David Hutchinson, from January visit of Southern Resident Killer Whales)
It’s not the only threat to endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales, but vessel noise is a danger that can be reduced, and it will be, after a vote Friday by the state Fish and Wildlife Commission. Limits on commercial whale-watching are the culmination of work that Gov. Inslee‘s Southern Resident Orca Task Force started more than two years ago. Among the members of that task force was Donna Sandstrom, the West Seattleite who is executive director of The Whale Trail, a nonprofit that evangelizes and facilitates land-based whale watching. She tells WSB, “It’s not the year-round suspension the whales need, but it is a huge step forward and a significant reduction in noise and disturbance compared to the status quo. A big win for the orcas.” Just before the pandemic stopped in-person gatherings, in fact, The Whale Trail’s midwinter gathering last February (WSB coverage here) focused on the noise issue and the task force’s recommendation of restrictions on vessels watching the Southern Residents. The problem is that noise disrupts their ability to use echolocation to find the salmon they subsist on – salmon that themselves are already scarce. Work to increase the salmon supply and reduce water pollution is vital too, but neither of those can be implemented quickly, while noise reduction can. Here’s the slide deck from the meeting, including the restrictions (“Option A”) approved by the commission (with one “no” vote from a commissioner who wanted tougher rules):
As pointed out in the slides, thousands of comments were received, the majority in support of strong restrictions. The commission was tasked with making a decision on rules by year’s end, as required by the Legislature; Sandstrom notes that the bill setting the stage for that was sponsored by 34th District State House Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon of West Seattle. This is unlikely to be the last word on the vessel-noise issue; some commissioners expressed concern that private vessels, not covered by the new rules, will rush into the void, for example. And they acknowledged that more stringent rules may be needed in the future, but this is “a starting point.” The rules will not apply to any other whale-watching done by the commercial vessels, only the endangered resident orcas, who number 74, perilously close to their historic low.
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