Close fisheries to save West Coast killer whales, says federal report

Strategic fishery closures and marine habitatprotection are part of a plan proposed by the federal government to protect two groups of threatened killer whales off Canada's West Coast.

The recovery plan for the northern and southern resident killer whale populations has been set out online by the Fisheries and Oceans Canada with a 60-day public comment period.

The document makes 94 recommendations to help the two distinctwhale populations that eat only fish.

The southern resident population is listed as endangered by both Canada and the United States, and the northern residents are listed as threatened in Canada.

Orcas under threat

The whales are considered at risk because of their smallpopulation, low reproductive rate and numerous human-caused threatsthat could prevent recovery or cause further declines, says thereport.

"Even under the most optimistic scenario ... the species' lowintrinsic growth rate means that the time frame for recovery will bemore than one generation."

A team of experts from the Fisheries and Oceans Canada, ParksCanada, the Vancouver Aquarium and the National Oceanographic andAtmospheric Administration in the United States developed the planbetween 2011 and 2014.

Its members found that key threats to recovery include reductionsin the availability and quality of prey, or salmon, environmentalcontamination and physical and acoustic disturbances.

Every year there is tussle over the division of the West Coastsalmon fishery between First Nations, commercial and recreationalfishers, and up until this report, killer whales haven't beenfactored into the equation.

The population of southern killer whales declined three per centa year from 1995 to 2001, and has shown little recovery since then.Just 77 southern whales were counted in 2014.

The northern killer whales population plummeted at a rate ofseven per cent each year between 1997 and 2001. But it grew from 219whales in 2004 to upward of 280 whales in 2014.

The proposed recovery plan recommends the Fisheries and Oceans Canada undertake several measures that would ensure the whales have a largeenough food supply to promote recovery.

Salmon stocks key

It says Chinook and chum salmon appear to be the whales' mainprey during the summer and fall, but little is known about theirdiet during the other seasons.

"The lack of information about winter diet and distribution ...is a major knowledge gap that impedes our understanding of theprincipal threats facing the population," says the proposed plan.

One specific recommendation, marked as a high priority for thenext five years, urges the department to "investigate strategicfishery closures as a possible tool" to reduce the whales' preycompetition in specific feeding areas.

It also recommends the department investigate implementing"protected areas and fishery closures as tools to protect importantforaging and beach-rubbing locations."

The Robson Bight EcologicalReserve is a well-known spot where the whales rub their bodies onthe rocky shore, but such behaviour has been recorded at severalother beaches on Vancouver Island.