Lawsuit Looms Over B.C. Orcas

Thursday, May 24, 2007
VANCOUVER, BC - The Sierra Legal Defence Fund has accused the Department of Fisheries and Oceans of "unlawful and unreasonable delay" for repeatedly postponing the release of a strategy to protect an endangered killer whale population off the west coast.

Sierra staff lawyer Lara Tessaro said in a letter delivered yesterday to Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn that if the Resident Killer Whale Recovery Strategy is not released within two weeks, she will file an application in Federal Court to force the document into the public realm.

She said it would be the first time in Canada the government has been taken to court to make it live up to deadline requirements of the Species At Risk Act, which came into law in 2004.

Ms. Tessaro said the southern resident killer whale population - a group of about 90 orcas found in the waters of southern British Columbia and northern Washington - are emerging as a test case because they are "in the first wave" of several endangered species covered by SARA.

Under the legislation, the government had to post a final recovery strategy for killer whales by June 1, 2006. When the deadline passed, environmental groups were repeatedly told the document would be released soon.

"Environmentalists have been hanging on, giving DFO the benefit of the doubt, and hoping for the release of this strategy, but there has just been one delay after another," said Ms. Tessaro, who is acting on behalf of the Georgia Strait Alliance and the Western Canada Wilderness Committee.

"SARA is crystal clear. That strategy was due in June, 2006. We are now demanding that it be produced, or we will seek a court order to direct DFO to post it [on the SARA website] immediately."

"These orcas are designated as endangered because they face imminent extirpation or extinction. By withholding their recovery strategy for 12 months, DFO not only acts unlawfully, but with a cavalier disregard to the recovery of one of Canada's most treasured species," Ms. Tessaro states in her letter to Mr. Hearn.

A spokesperson in the minister's office said yesterday that officials had not yet seen the letter and did not have any immediate response.

Environmentalists say DFO is delaying the strategy document because of consultations with the Department of National Defence over wording.

"DND is trying to downplay and rewrite scientists' concerns over military sonar threats to killer whales in B.C. waters," states a joint release by the Georgia Strait Alliance and Western Canada Wilderness Committee.

The Canadian and U.S. military test torpedoes, sonar, sonobuoys and other maritime warfare equipment at the Canadian Forces Maritime Experimental and Test Range, near Nanoose Bay, just off the east coast of Vancouver Island.

Christianne Wilhelmson of the Georgia Strait Alliance said the military acknowledges that sonar can harm whales, but doesn't want its activities restricted.

"The military must stop interfering with this science-based recovery strategy," she said.

A partial draft of the strategy document shows that DND has been pushing for changes to several passages related to the impact of sonar on whales. DND notes that some statements in the strategy portray the military "in an unfair and negative manner."

Commander Jeff Agnew, navy director of public relations at National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa, said DND has been giving feedback on the strategy document but isn't responsible for any delays. "We are in the process of working very closely with Fisheries and Oceans on the recovery strategy. What we're trying to do is provide the correct information so the recovery team can make an informed decision," he said.

"What we need to do is ensure that the science that is used is absolutely accurate. We have absolutely no information, no science, no examples of any of our naval sonars in Canadian waters affecting killer whales, and we want to keep it that way."

Source: The Globe and Mail