VANCOUVER, BC, UNCEDED xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (MUSQUEAM), Sḵwx̱w̱ú7mesh (SQUAMISH), AND səlilwətaɬ (TSLEIL-WAUTUTH) TERRITORIES, March 7, 2025 /CNW/ - Conservation groups are warning that the federal government's decision not to issue an emergency order to protect southern resident killer whales has put this iconic and critically endangered population at greater risk of extinction.

This disappointing decision follows the government's own acknowledgement on Nov. 29, 2024, confirmed by Ministers of Fisheries and Oceans and Environment and Climate Change Canada, that southern resident killer whales face imminent threats to their survival and recovery.

In January of this year, the David Suzuki Foundation, Georgia Straight Alliance, Living Oceans Society, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), Raincoast Conservation Foundation and World Wildlife Fund Canada, represented by lawyers from Ecojustice, filed a legal challenge over the failure of the Ministers to make a timely recommendation to Cabinet for an Emergency Order.

The six groups initially requested an emergency order on June 6, 2024.

Now, nine months after the first request, and over three months after the imminent threat decision, Cabinet has once again declined to take the most effective legal step under the Species at Risk Act (SARA): urgent measures in an emergency order. Instead, they have opted for ongoing consultation regarding incremental improvements to existing measures that have thus far proven inadequate.

Cabinet's decision mirrors what occurred in 2018, when it similarly declined to issue an emergency order despite imminent threats and a ministerial recommendation, instead highlighting other measures. It is now evident that the government's approach in 2018 was insufficient to halt the Southern Residents' decline.

Since then, the population has continued to face persistent and escalating threats, including inadequate Chinook salmon prey, excessive underwater noise, fatal vessel strikes, and polluted waters. The Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (TMX) is now operational, bringing increased oil tanker traffic and further underwater noise pollution. Additionally, the federal government has approved the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 (RBT2) expansion, which, if it receives final permits, will further increase vessel traffic in critical whale habitat and destroy salmon habitat, leading to lesser food for the whales.

It is more urgent than ever for the government to take decisive action.

The conservation groups will continue to hold the incoming Prime Minister and Cabinet accountable for obligations under SARA. The urgency of the situation demands that decision-makers act with the boldness required to save Southern Resident killer whales from extinction.

QUOTES

"The government had the right tool for the job and chose not to use it," said Margot Venton, Nature Program Director at Ecojustice. "The emergency order tool was designed for precisely these types of urgent situations where existing measures have failed to stem the decline of an endangered species. This decision is a missed opportunity to take bold, necessary action to protect the Southern Residents before it is too late."

"The repeated failure of the federal government to enact an Emergency Order for Southern Resident killer whales, Canada's most endangered whale population, is an abdication of their responsibility to protect species at risk. The new measures the government has proposed are vague, open to dilution and lack any timelines. They are largely a continuation of 'half measures' that we know from past experiences are not enough. We are presiding over the extinction of Southern Resident orcas and future generations will judge us accordingly," said Hussein Alidina, lead specialist for marine conservation at WWF-Canada.

"Canada's Species at Risk Act was enacted to protect species like the Southern Resident orca," said Jeffery Young, senior science and policy analyst at the David Suzuki Foundation. "Failing to use the Emergency Order provisions—even when the government acknowledges the imminent threat of extinction—undermines this critical responsibility."

"The threats have grown since 2018, and yet the government's response remains the same—insufficient," said Karen Wristen, Executive Director of Living Oceans Society. "The Southern Residents are losing ground while we debate half-measures. The longer we wait, the harder it will be for the population to recover."

"While political events and emergencies dominate headlines, the Southern Resident killer whales are in an urgent fight for survival," said Michael Jasny, Director of Marine Mammal Protection at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "There are permanent consequences to deferring solutions for endangered species. Delay increases the risk that this population will decline beyond the point of recovery."

"The federal government has continued to fail to implement robust actions, and instead they are offering proposals for more consultation, leaving orcas struggling unnecessarily," said Georgia Strait Alliance's executive director Beatrice Frank. "This is a blow to orcas and to the Salish Sea ecosystem and communities, but this is not the end, it is a detour."

Paul Paquet, Senior scientist at Raincoast Conservation Foundation, said: "Why is the federal government announcing a plan to identify 'interim' underwater noise reduction goals that can be used to measure progress, when they have supposedly been working on this for years? When the government rejects significant action at critical junctures in the recovery timeline, as they are currently doing, we diminish the potential for recovery in this endangered population of killer whales. Scientists recognize the 'imminent threat of extinction' as necessitating urgent and substantial action, yet decision-makers continue to favour gradual and incremental steps that fail to adequately address the gravity of the crisis."

SOURCE Ecojustice