VANCOUVER — Transport Canada is pursuing 89 investigations of boaters for alleged violations of safe-distance requirements and sanctuary zones intended to protect southern resident killer whales.
More than 140 warning letters have already been issued to recreational boaters for such violations this year after the agency beefed up surveillance and enforcement, said Michelle Sanders, director of the agency’s Clean Water Policy Division.
The incidents still under investigation may warrant “stronger action,” she said. “To date, no fines have been issued, however we will not hesitate to issue a fine if it is warranted.”
The recent births of two calves — and potentially a third on the way — have given new urgency to enforcement.
The male calf J57 was born to J35 Tahlequah in early September, and J pod — one of three pods that make up the southern resident clan — spent the next few weeks moving between the open ocean, the Strait of Georgia and the mouth of the Fraser River.
Tahlequah made headlines in 2018 when she carried her dead calf at the surface for 17 days.
A second calf was born to J41 Eclipse near the end of September, said Kelley Balcomb-Bartok, spokesman for the Pacific Whale Watch Association.
“After that, there was quite a bit of foraging activity and the baby whales seemed very healthy and very happy,” he said.
That came as a relief after the southern residents radically altered their summer schedule this year, remaining entirely absent from their usual summer feeding grounds in the Salish Sea in May, June, and August.
“While they were not in the Salish Sea for long stretches, they were clearly finding alternative food sources or alternative feeding areas,” said Balcomb-Bartok. “But it’s a bit like not being able to go to your summer home, where they are usually very social. So something is not right.”
Federal rules were updated two years ago to prohibit boaters from operating within 200 metres of killer whales. After a finding of imminent threat to the southern residents, that distance was increased to 400 metres for all killer whales, Sanders explained.
Professional whale watchers are permitted to go no closer than 200 metres away from non-southern residents, which are usually mammal-eating Biggs killer whales in local waters.
The guides often act as sentinels, reporting the positions of the pods to authorities and waving off boaters who get too close.
A recent study found that recreational boaters violated minimum-distance requirements for southern residents in about 45 per cent of their encounters with the orcas.
The federal agency had planned to hit the docks and marinas for face-to-face education with boaters, but the pandemic threw a wrench into those plans, said Sanders.
“When COVID-19 hit, we had to pivot and really take more of a virtual and online approach,” she said.
However, surveillance and enforcement in local waters has more than doubled this year.
Fisheries and Oceans has added a vessel and two new crews for a total of three vessels dedicated to whales and fisheries compliance, while the RCMP marine unit and Parks Canada also play a role in enforcement, she said.
Three interim sanctuary zones have been established near Swiftsure Bank, and Pender and Saturna Islands that prohibit all fishing and boating in key summer foraging and transit areas for the southern residents.
Balcomb-Bartok is concerned that existing sanctuaries in Canadian and U.S. waters don’t provide adequate protection, especially now that the southern residents have changed their behaviour, spreading out over miles rather than gathering in those smaller areas.
“While Swiftsure and San Juan Island are foraging areas, I think these [Gulf Islands] sanctuaries are just well-intentioned penalty zones where you can write-up violations, but the whales are really just passing through,” he said. “If you want to create a sanctuary that would benefit the southern residents, it would be right in the mouth of the Fraser.”
If you see a violation of the 400-metre rule or a sanctuary zone by boaters, call 1-800-465-4336, or email [email protected]. Video evidence helps the investigators.
