Killer whale at sunset. By Mack Bartlett, CCFS Research Coordinator.
Last month, CCFS staff attended a webinar hosted by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Transport Canada, and Parks Canada regarding this season’s protective measures to support the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW). Even though this group isn’t commonly in Clayoquot Sound, we want to ensure that boaters, fishers, and other ocean enthusiasts are aware of these new laws and support and respect the SRKW wherever they’re encountered.
We are excited to share this season’s management updates, which fall into 4 major categories:
- expansion of SRKW sanctuaries (critical habitat and no-go zones for boating and fishing)
- prey protection (fishing restrictions)
- minimizing physical and acoustic disturbance (restrictions on marine vessel proximity to SRKW)
- contaminants (recommendations for considering the destination of contaminants discharged into waterways, etc.).
All of the restrictions and their areas of effect are shown here:
You can find more information here:
https://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/whales-baleines/srkw-measures-mesures-ers-eng.html#maps
By Sarah Rosen, Education Program Coordinator and CSJ Student