$5,000 A Month For Luna Safety

Tuesday, August 31, 2004
GOLD RIVER, BC - The federal government will spend $10,000 over the next two months to keep Luna the killer whale safe and out of trouble in the waters off Gold River.

CBC has obtained a copy of the Luna Stewardship Plan – an agreement between the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation.

It details a series of measures to keep the orca away from boaters and the public docks – including underwater noise devices and broadcast warnings to boaters on the marine weather channel.

The agreement is expected to be signed this week. It expires at the end of October, but can be extended.

The whale has been living alone in Nootka Sound for more than three years, and there have been growing concerns that his interest in boats and float planes posed a danger.

A plan to capture and move Luna to waters off Victoria, where he could be re-united with its pod, was thwarted in June by local First Nations paddlers.

The Mowachaht/Muchalaht say they believe Luna is spiritually connected to a former chief who died just days before the orca showed up in Nootka Sound.

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