Biologists have known for years that the low numbers of Southern Resident Killer Whales in Puget Sound may be tied to vessel traffic. A new plan for curbing vessel activity may help increase the population of these marine mammals.
New rules regarding vessel traffic have been proposed by NOAA’s Fisheries Service to provide additional protection of the Southern Resident Killer Whales (Orcinus orca). The regulations, if adopted, would take effect as early as May 2010.
According to today’s release by NOAA, the new proposal would curb vessel activity by:
- Prohibiting vessels from approaching any killer whale closer than 200 yards
- Forbidding vessels from intercepting or parking in the path of a whale
- Establishing a half-mile-wide no-go zone along the west side of San Juan Island from May 1 through the end of September, where generally no vessels would be allowed
Exceptions would be made for active commercial fishing, cargo vessels in shipping lanes, government and research vessels. Land owners accessing private property would have limited exceptions under the no-go zone.
Acting head of the agency’s Northwest regional office, Barry Thom explained:
The idea here is to give these remarkable animals even more real, meaningful protection. Without it, we would undercut the hard work we are all doing to recover the species by improving the sound’s water quality and recovering salmon, the killer whale’s primary food.
Known as the Southern Resident Killer Whales, this distinct population, listed as endangered under the ESA, consists of just 85 whales.
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/winkyintheuk/ / CC BY 2.0
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