NOAA doubles orca viewing distance
Beam Reach observes whale wisely (by M. Weiland)
Today NOAA finally issued a new rule that will govern how boats interact with endangered southern resident killer whales in 2011, starting in early May. The big news is that the legal approach distance has been doubled from 100 yards to 200 yards and the proposed “no-go” zone along the west side of San Juan Island will not be implemented.
- NOAA overview of new rule
- NOAA page with links to details including Federal Register language
The rule will go into affect 30 days after the date of the official Federal Register notice. The NOAA web site suggests the notice publication date is not yet known, but will presumably be today or within the next couple days:
Apr. 8, 2011: The Northwest Region announced final regulations to protect killer whales in Washington State from the effects of various vessel activities. There may be minor changes once the rule officially files.
Here’s what the Q&A document says about how and why the final rule differed from the proposed rule and suggested conservation actions:
The proposed rule included a no-go zone along the west side of San Juan Island that boats would not be allowed to enter from May through September. The no-go zone was not adopted as part of the final rule. During the public comment period, we received a large number of comments specific to the no-go zone including new speed zone alternatives, different exceptions, and questions about the economic impacts of a no-go zone. We’ve decided to gather additional information and conduct further analysis and public outreach on the concept of a no-go zone, which may be part of a future rulemaking.
The “Be Whale Wise” guidelines have not yet been updated to reflect the new rule at http://www.bewhalewise.org/ That will presumably be rectified shortly, as the management, whale watching, research, and stewardship communities rally around the vast educational outreach that will be necessary to promulgate the new rules efficiently during the 2011 boating season.
A key issue this season will be how many resources can be mobilized for both education and enforcement. NOAA is forecasting a gloomy funding environment generally for their 2011-2012 fiscal year. Does the cancellation of the normally-annual survey for southern resident killer whales along the outer Washington coast by NWFSC suggest there will be even fewer NOAA enforcement agents trained and monitoring boat-orca interactions this summer? Will Soundwatch and Straitwatch be adequately funded? Given the state of the WA State budget, it seems highly unlikely that WDFW or the San Juan County Sheriff will increase their training or monitoring presence…
Thanks to Jenny Atkinson of The Whale Museum for the notice of the announcement today.
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Scott Veirs
April 9th, 2011 at 00:30
This arrived from orcalist@noaa.gov at 4:23 on 4/8/11 —
Today we announced new regulations to protect killer whales in inland waters of Washington State from the effects of various vessel activities. The new regulations have two parts:
1. vessels must not approach any killer whale within 200 yards
2. vessels must stay out of the path of oncoming whales out to 400 yards.
The new regulations go into effect 30 days after the Federal Register notice publishes. We’re working with our partners to educate boaters about the new regulations on and off the water.
See our Website at http://www.nwr.noaa.gov/Marine-Mammals/Whales-Dolphins-Porpoise/Killer-Whales/Recovery-Implement/Orca-Vessel-Regs.cfm for more information on the vessel regulations.
Thank you for your interest in the Southern Resident killer whales and our efforts to protect and recover them.