Killer Whales, Humpbacks and their future?
Doesn’t everyone talk about 20-year-old partially decomposed Blue Whales?!?
On Saturday November 29th, 2008 I (Breanne) attended, along with two fellow Spirit of the West guides, James Pilkington and Robin Hutchings, the 16th Annual BC Marine Mammal Symposium at UBC. This annual event gives researchers, various marine mammal interest groups as well as the general public a chance to discuss current research and issues surrounding Marine Mammals.
We listened to reports about everything from tiny parasites that affect marine mammals to giant blue whale skeleton reconstruction projects. There is a great deal of very interesting and exciting research happening on the BC coast and abroad. The general consensus is that there are many questions about marine mammals around their habitats, foraging, behaviours etc. that are unanswered, but we are fortunate to have some very brilliant minds working diligently to fill in some of the gaps. We were treated to presentations from Dr. Lance Barrett-Lennard, Graham Ellis, Dr. Andrew Trites and many of their graduate students. If you want to learn more about some of the very interesting projects please visit the University of British Columbia Marine Mammal Research Unit website at http://www.marinemammal.org
A hot topic was in regards to our beloved Orca whales. As most people know, these beautiful and intelligent creatures are under many pressures including pollution, lack of food availability, acoustic noise and more. In the United States Orcas have been designated as endangered. In Canada, the Southern Residents (San Juan Islands and Puget Sound area) have been designated as endangered and the Northern Residents (Johnstone Strait area) are only considered threatened (according to the Species at Risk Act, also known as SARA). SARA provides some protection, but it gets tricky when you start talking about what it actually takes to support the whales. At a most basic level animals, including ourselves, need air, water, food and a place to call home to survive. The same goes for the Orcas as well as all organisms on this earth.
One of the aims of the Species at Risk Act is to identify and protect areas that are considered critical habitat for the organisms in question. Identifying and protecting the critical habitat of marine mammals is a difficult task. First of all, many marine mammals migrate long distances and spend time in many different areas. Secondly their habitat, the ocean, is affected by the actions of people all around the world as ocean currents and waves help to spread contaminates and pollution with great efficiency. If you have been on our Nuchatlitz tour on the West Coast of Vancouver Island you have no doubt come across some beach garbage with Asian writing on it courtesy of the ocean currents. For this and many other reasons the implications for the governments can be huge if they enforce the requirements of the Species at Risk Act and actually take action to protect the critical habitat of Killer Whales.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is the government body responsible for administering the Species at Risk Act as it pertains to killer whales. It has been suggested that the DFO has not been fulfilling its obligations in regards to marine mammal critical habitat protection. Those monitoring the health and well-being of the Southern and Northern Resident Orca populations have decided that the whales are much too vulnerable to wait patiently for legislation to be enforced and that in fact DFO is not doing their job. This past fall a coalition of environmental groups, led by Ecojustice and joined by the David Suzuki Foundation, Raincoast Conservation Society, and Greenpeace Canada, among others, launched a lawsuit in an attempt to force action.
We are members of the North Island Marine Mammal Stewardship Association (NIMMSA), a group which closely monitors issues regarding whales and whale watching in the northern Vancouver Island region. As members we voted to donate $500 on behalf of NIMMSA to Ecojustice Canada to help fund the lawsuit and initiative for action. While a lawsuit is no-one’s first choice of action, Spirit of the West supports the lawsuit as this issue is much to pressing to stand by and idly watch the collapse of an entire ecosystem.
To read more about the lawsuit click here.
For more information on issues pertaining to our beautiful coast you can also check out the following websites
www.raincoast.org
www.saveoursalmon.ca
www.callingfromthecoast.com
www.ecojustice.ca
We hope that you are enjoying the winter weather and soon can get back out on the water.
On Saturday November 29th, 2008 I (Breanne) attended, along with two fellow Spirit of the West guides, James Pilkington and Robin Hutchings, the 16th Annual BC Marine Mammal Symposium at UBC. This annual event gives researchers, various marine mammal interest groups as well as the general public a chance to discuss current research and issues surrounding Marine Mammals.
We listened to reports about everything from tiny parasites that affect marine mammals to giant blue whale skeleton reconstruction projects. There is a great deal of very interesting and exciting research happening on the BC coast and abroad. The general consensus is that there are many questions about marine mammals around their habitats, foraging, behaviours etc. that are unanswered, but we are fortunate to have some very brilliant minds working diligently to fill in some of the gaps. We were treated to presentations from Dr. Lance Barrett-Lennard, Graham Ellis, Dr. Andrew Trites and many of their graduate students. If you want to learn more about some of the very interesting projects please visit the University of British Columbia Marine Mammal Research Unit website at http://www.marinemammal.org
A hot topic was in regards to our beloved Orca whales. As most people know, these beautiful and intelligent creatures are under many pressures including pollution, lack of food availability, acoustic noise and more. In the United States Orcas have been designated as endangered. In Canada, the Southern Residents (San Juan Islands and Puget Sound area) have been designated as endangered and the Northern Residents (Johnstone Strait area) are only considered threatened (according to the Species at Risk Act, also known as SARA). SARA provides some protection, but it gets tricky when you start talking about what it actually takes to support the whales. At a most basic level animals, including ourselves, need air, water, food and a place to call home to survive. The same goes for the Orcas as well as all organisms on this earth.
One of the aims of the Species at Risk Act is to identify and protect areas that are considered critical habitat for the organisms in question. Identifying and protecting the critical habitat of marine mammals is a difficult task. First of all, many marine mammals migrate long distances and spend time in many different areas. Secondly their habitat, the ocean, is affected by the actions of people all around the world as ocean currents and waves help to spread contaminates and pollution with great efficiency. If you have been on our Nuchatlitz tour on the West Coast of Vancouver Island you have no doubt come across some beach garbage with Asian writing on it courtesy of the ocean currents. For this and many other reasons the implications for the governments can be huge if they enforce the requirements of the Species at Risk Act and actually take action to protect the critical habitat of Killer Whales.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is the government body responsible for administering the Species at Risk Act as it pertains to killer whales. It has been suggested that the DFO has not been fulfilling its obligations in regards to marine mammal critical habitat protection. Those monitoring the health and well-being of the Southern and Northern Resident Orca populations have decided that the whales are much too vulnerable to wait patiently for legislation to be enforced and that in fact DFO is not doing their job. This past fall a coalition of environmental groups, led by Ecojustice and joined by the David Suzuki Foundation, Raincoast Conservation Society, and Greenpeace Canada, among others, launched a lawsuit in an attempt to force action.
We are members of the North Island Marine Mammal Stewardship Association (NIMMSA), a group which closely monitors issues regarding whales and whale watching in the northern Vancouver Island region. As members we voted to donate $500 on behalf of NIMMSA to Ecojustice Canada to help fund the lawsuit and initiative for action. While a lawsuit is no-one’s first choice of action, Spirit of the West supports the lawsuit as this issue is much to pressing to stand by and idly watch the collapse of an entire ecosystem.
To read more about the lawsuit click here.
For more information on issues pertaining to our beautiful coast you can also check out the following websites
www.raincoast.org
www.saveoursalmon.ca
www.callingfromthecoast.com
www.ecojustice.ca
We hope that you are enjoying the winter weather and soon can get back out on the water.
posted by Breanne, Rick and John at
12:00 PM
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