Extinction Emergency

The plight of Southern Resident killer whales has only been getting worse as time goes on and Canada keeps approving new projects that impact their critical habitat in the Salish Sea. One of those projects, the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion, is now up and running and with it, the number of large vessels transiting the whales’ habitat is increasing. Noise was already a problem in the Salish Sea. Now, it’s even noisier. 

Underwater noise can interfere with the ability of these whales to locate their prey. It’s thought to be one of the reasons why so many of the Southern Residents are in poor body condition. When it approved TMX, the government undertook to put a noise offset program in place to mitigate the tanker traffic. Yet instead of taking mandatory measures to reduce noise to a level that permits the whales to feed and socialize normally, the government introduced only voluntary speed restrictions. There was no target, no timeline or pathway toward achieving quiet waters. 

Living Oceans and colleagues responded, with the help of our lawyers at Ecojustice, by filing a Petition asking for an emergency order to protect the whales. We listed concrete measures that could be taken immediately, such as mandatory speed restrictions and a ban on the discharge of toxic exhaust gas scrubber wastewater. Other measures, including requiring vessels calling at our ports to have a Quiet Vessel Notation and developing a comprehensive underwater noise management plan for the Salish Sea, should be priorities for the medium term. 

The departments of Fisheries and Environment conducted an ‘imminent threat assessment’ in response to our petition and, unsurprisingly, concluded that the Southern Residents do face imminent threats to survival. The Species at Risk Act requires that, when the relevant Ministers are of the opinion that an imminent threat to an endangered species exists, they must must make a recommendation to Cabinet for an emergency order. 

The language alone—‘imminent threat’ and ‘risk of extinction’—suggests strongly that time is of the essence.  Earlier court cases have confirmed that the Act requires timely response by the government. The current plight of the whales makes it obvious that immediate action is needed. We filed our petition in June of 2024.  Seven months later, there was still no recommendation before Cabinet. 

Our lawyers then asked the Court to compel the Ministers of Fisheries and Environment to make the recommendation to Cabinet for an emergency order to protect the whales. Our supporters weighed in by writing key cabinet Ministers to demand emergency measures be approved. Faced with the pressure of a Court proceeding, the Ministers made the recommendation for an emergency order. 

The key step—approving the emergency order—is a discretionary decision by Cabinet. That means that our elected representatives were faced with deciding if they would impose meaningful restrictions on economic activity in the Salish Sea, or condemn the Southern Residents to their current, slow trajectory toward extinction. 

They chose the latter.  

They’ll consult in future on some ‘incremental’ measures—extending the approach distance to 1000 metres, for example—which aren’t in themselves bad things. They’re just not likely good enough, or coming quickly enough, to reverse the whales’ decline. 

But it’s a new day; a new Cabinet since that decision was made. You can still urge the new Ministers to take meaningful action. TAKE ACTION NOW!  

Photo credit: Melanie Schuening