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Canada expands critical habitat for at-risk orca populations

Canada expands critical habitat for at-risk orca populations

Last week, Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans made an expansion of critical habitat for both the Northern and Southern Resident orca populations official.  Like in the U.S., a critical habitat designation recognizes that an area with certain features is vital for the survival of an endangered species, and protects designated areas from activities that…

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Lawsuit launched to protect Southern Resident orcas’ coastal habitat

Following their 2014 petition to revise federally-designated critical habitat for the endangered Southern Resident orca population, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has filed a legal notice demanding the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) take action to protect the orcas’ ocean habitat off California, Oregon, and Washington.  The notice points out the unlawful delay by…

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Southern Resident orca critical habitat – where are we now?

In 2014, WDC supported a petition by our colleagues at the Center for Biological Diversity asking the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to expand critical habitat for the endangered Southern Resident orca community.  Unfortunately, four years later, we’re still waiting for NMFS to take action to protect more of the Southern Residents’ home.   The summer…

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Mayday Monday – What Have We Learned?

New information since 2005 listing The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) submitted a petition in 2014 asking for expanded critical habitat and the addition of sound as an essential feature of their habitat. Early in 2015, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) found that petition to be warranted, and while they plan to revise critical…

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Mayday Monday – The Cascade Effect of Threats

Connectedness and synergistic interactions between different threats In December 2014, the Southern Resident orca Rhapsody (J32) was found dead carrying a near full-term fetus. The loss of a reproductive female and her calf was a hard hit to the Southern Resident population. Preliminary results from her necropsy showed that she was malnourished and had a…

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