Elizabeth May has presented our House of Commons petition calling for a 1,000 metre buffer around Southern Resident killer whales
The petition seeks this buffer to match protections provided by Washington State that are coming into effect in January, 2025.
Our House of Commons petition asking the Federal government to enact a 1,000 metre buffer around Southern Resident killer whales to match the protections being put into place by Washington State surpassed 1,000 signatures. This morning, Elizabeth May presented the petition in the House of Commons.
“That should be the standard in Canada…as much as it is in Washington State,” said May after she conveyed the litany of threats that endangered Southern Resident killer whales already face.
“Their legally protected, critical habitat is located in an area about to be increasingly trafficked with aframax tankers loaded with dilbit as a result of the Trans Mountain pipeline,” exclaimed May during the reading.
While not addressing the increased underwater noise caused by these tankers and more shipping, implementing a 1,000-metre buffer zone for smaller vessels will reduce the immediate negative impacts of acoustic and physical disturbance on nutritionally-stressed Southern Resident killer whales.
Our petition is complete, but you can still take action! Email your MP with our pre-written draft that you can either send it in as is, or modify it as you see fit.
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