||| FROM TIMES COLUMNIST (BRITISH COLUMBIA) |||

Environmental groups are worried that the U.S. Navy’s activity in southern resident killer whale habitat spells trouble for the endangered animals.

The navy has had authorization for decades to conduct testing and training in the waters of the Pacific Northwest, including Juan de Fuca Strait and Puget Sound. The previous permit, which authorized activities such as testing and training with sonar, firing torpedoes and dropping bombs from aircraft, was set to expire this month.

The renewed authorization gives the navy permission to conduct activities that could result in 51 incidents that disturb a southern resident killer whale’s behaviour each year, up from two per year previously. The authorization expires in November 2027.

Scientists and environmental groups are worried about the impact on the 74 endangered southern resident killer whales, which live along the West Coast from the B.C.-Washington border to California.

Deborah Giles, a research scientist at the University of Washington’s Center for Conservation Biology, previously told the Times Colonist the navy’s activities have the potential to disrupt the whales’ foraging, breeding, socializing and resting habits.

“When you’re talking about a population that is desperate for food and nourishment, any sort of disruption in foraging is something to take seriously,” Giles said, adding the whales could be forced to travel out of their habitats for food, which is already scarce.

READ FULL ARTICLE: https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/u-s-navy-gets-ok-for-increased-disturbance-of-orcas-1.24245026

PHOTO: In this photo provided by the Center for Whale Research, a newborn orca calf that researchers estimate is less than a week old, surfaces beside its mother, known as J16, as they swim Wednesday, May 2, 2007, near San Juan Island, Wash. The calf, who has been named J42, displays the orange coloring common to baby orcas. (AP Photo/Courtesy the Center for Whale Research)


 

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