B.C. group pushes for greater buffer between boats, killer whales

A B.C. conservation group is urging the federal government to follow in Washington state's footsteps, after it passed legislation for vessels to help better protect endangered southern resident killer whales. 

The Raincoast Conservation Foundation launched a petition to urge Ottawa to increase the existing vessel buffer from 400 metres to 1,000 metres.

Washington state passed Senate Bill 5371 which, beginning in January 2025, will require boaters to stay 1,000 yards away from southern resident killer whales.

"Increasing the buffer to 1,000 metres here in Canada is important, to harmonize with that, because we're talking about a transboundary species," said Valeria Vergara, co-director of Raincoast Conservation Foundation's cetacean program.

"Agreeing on the protection measures is fundamental, but there's also consistency with [the] best available science."

Vergara said the primary threat to southern resident killer whales is a lack of prey, and the underwater noise created by vessels exacerbates that threat. 

"It degrades the whales' habitat, and their ability to successfully find and capture the very limited prey that is available," Vergara said.

"We know that noise interferes with the echolocation, and with their ability ... to potentially communicate about finding prey."

Giving whales a better chance to catch food

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said the bill passed last spring, and sees the vessel buffer distance increase from the existing 300- and 400-yard restrictions to 1,000 yards.  

The department's whale policy lead, Julie Watson, said expanding the vessel buffer was proposed after they found boats travelling at any speed beyond 400 yards was enough to affect the whales. 

Keeping vessels further back from the whales, Watson said, is meant to give whales a better chance of catching food, "getting that fish to their young, hopefully improve calf survival, and hopefully improve the whole population."

Watson said her Canadian counterparts have been great collaborators, adding her department keeps Ottawa in the loop with what they are doing.

"Sharing our work and sharing the reasoning behind our work can only help," she said.

Watson said she recognizes having different laws, and under different circumstances, could make it harder to get compliance. "When you cross the border and you have a different set of regulations, that potentially makes it harder for boaters to remember," she said.

However, she said, they work closely with Canada in a Be Whale Wise partnership — a partnership of governmental agencies, non-profits, and other partners in B.C. and Washington state to research and educate on laws and "best vessel practices" for marine resources protection — to work on communicating regulations with vessel operators.

"We don't have to necessarily match 100 per cent ... thinking about whether it makes sense to align is something I think that is an important value and look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues in Canada to see how we can support them as they're considering their options."

Transport Canada is aware of the changes in the U.S., and said in a March 28 statement that it takes the protection of the southern resident killer whales seriously.

In April 2023, Transport Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced several new measures that included requiring vessels to stay at least 400 metres away from all killer whales between Campbell River and Ucluelet, as well as Barkley Sound and Howe Sound, until May 31, 2024.

At the time, it was described as the fifth consecutive year of strong action to protect and restore the southern resident killer whale population.