Endangered whales living off the coast of Seattle could soon have more protected habitat as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have issued a proposal to increase the critical habitat designation for the southern resident killer whales by more than sevenfold under the Endangered Species Act.
If approved this would greatly expand the area considered “critical” for the survival of these endangered orcas that frequent Puget Sound, the proposed designation would run from the U.S. international border with Canada, down south to Point Sur, California – an additional 15,626 square miles of federally protected habitat. In 2006, NOAA Fisheries designated Puget Sound as critical habitat for the whales, which covered about 2,560 square miles around Seattle.
Their numbers have declined to a historic low of 73 whales living in three extended families called pods and they face three major problems: the decline of their main prey, Chinook salmon, toxic pollution in the waters where they swim and the food they eat; and the cacophony of noise from ship traffic in their main territory.
This population of whales were listed as endangered in 2005 and the new designation would provide more legal protection for them which they desperately need, therefore Marine Connection very much welcomes this latest move.
