SRKW | Raincoast Conservation Foundation

Federal Minister presses pause on Terminal 2

Published on 2020 09 16 | by Misty MacDuffee, Wild Salmon Program Director | in Conservation update

In a six page letter (PDF) to the CEO of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, Canada’s minister of Environment and Climate Change, Jonathan Wilkinson, requested more information from the Port to assess the effectiveness of mitigation efforts in the proposed expansion of Terminal 2 on Roberts Bank. Wikinson’s letter conveyed the panel’s conclusion about likely adverse effects to fish, fish habitat and other at-risk species if Terminal 2 proceeds…

Terminal 2 Backgrounder: Impacts on Southern Resident killer whales

Published on 2020 07 20 | by Raincoast | in Backgrounders

The shipping expansion at the Deltaport terminal will place further stress on the Fraser estuary that has already lost more than 70% of its natural habitat. Raincoast is particularly concerned about the impacts from the terminal on Fraser Chinook salmon and Southern Resident killer whales…

A bond through salmon, language and grandmothers

Published on 2020 06 05 | by Misty MacDuffee, Wild Salmon Program Director | in Reports & Books

Killer whales glide by in water, with a mountain and fog looming in the background, and a cover of the book, Spirits of the Coast, in the foreground.

The book was produced to accompany the Royal BC Museum’s 2020 feature exhibition Orcas: Our Shared Future which, due to the pandemic, is rescheduled to now open in May 2021…

Terminal 2 expansion threatens the Fraser estuary

Published on 2020 05 27 | by Misty MacDuffee, Wild Salmon Program Director & Dave Scott, Research and Restoration Coordinator for the Lower Fraser Salmon Program | in Conservation update

Terminal 2 at the end of a long causeway, with Vancouver Island in the distance.

The Port of Vancouver is proposing to double the size of its shipping terminal beside the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal, putting further stress on an estuary that has already lost more than 70% of its natural habitat…

Guide government action on Southern Resident killer whales before March 23

Published on 2020 03 18 | by Raincoast | in Conservation update

A researcher puts a breath sampler in the water from a long pole while a killer whale swims in another frame.

We have provided our answers to the survey questions to offer guidance if needed. Please complete it and share…

We are headed to the Supreme Court for Southern Resident killer whales

Published on 2019 11 05 | by Misty MacDuffee, Wild Salmon Program Director & Paul Paquet, Senior Scientist | in For the coast

Southern Resident killer whales on the surface of the blue Salish Sea.

Today, Raincoast takes our work to protect Southern Resident killer whales from the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. Working with Living Oceans Society and our legal team at Ecojustice, we have filed an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. We are arguing that the […]

Trans Mountain Expansion project background

Published on | by Raincoast | in Backgrounders

J50 and J42, Southern Resident Killer Whales swim in the Salish Sea.

Ecojustice, Raincoast Conservation Foundation and Living Oceans Society have worked through the courts to protect Southern Resident killer whales from the threats posed by the Trans Mountain Expansion project. Timeline 2013 – Raincoast and Living Oceans, legally represented by Ecojustice, file as formal intervenors in the National Energy Board’s review of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain […]

Increasing salmon hatcheries could do more harm than good for Chinook and Southern Resident killer whales

Published on 2019 08 13 | by Misty MacDuffee, Nick Gayeski, & Chris Genovali | in For the coast

A killer whale chases a chinook salmon in the Salish Sea.

Hatcheries have failed to protect or restore the old ages, big sizes, range of migration times and diversity of wild Chinook salmon. For Southern Residents to recover, the age structure and run timing of wild Chinook runs, along with abundance, need to be restored. This is not the objective of hatcheries…

Interview: Why our latest court challenge to the re-approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline is critical for the Salish Sea

Published on 2019 07 22 | by Raincoast | in Interviews

The Southern Resident killer whales are a small declining population. The increase in tanker traffic associated with the Trans Mountain expansion will have a significant adverse effect on these killer whales in the Salish Sea…

Saving endangered whales: Strategies from above and below the 49th parallel

Published on 2019 07 16 | by Misty MacDuffee, Wild Salmon Program Director | in Backgrounders

Southern Resident killer whales in the Salish Sea.

On May 10, the Canadian federal government announced its first wide-ranging measures to reduce the primary threats compromising survival of the salmon-eating Southern Resident killer whales reliant on the transboundary waters of the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. Although federally listed as endangered in 2003 in Canada and 2005 in the US, little has happened […]

We’re headed back to court for killer whales

Published on 2019 07 08 | by Misty MacDuffee, Wild Salmon Program Director & Paul Paquet, Senior Scientist | in Conservation update

A killer whale in the foreground, with a container ship behind it in the mouth of the Fraser River.

Today we are returning to court with partners Ecojustice and Living Oceans Society to challenge the federal government’s re-approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. Our lawyers at Ecojustice submitted a motion to the Federal Court of Appeal this morning, asking for leave to launch a judicial review of Cabinet’s decision. We contend that Cabinet […]

Misty MacDuffee on CFAX 1070 talking about the approval of the Trans Mountain Pipeline

Published on 2019 06 24 | by Raincoast | in Interviews

Two killer whales come to the surface of the Salish Sea.

The day after the federal government approved the Trans Mountain Pipeline yet again, Raincoast’s Wild Salmon Program Director, Misty MacDuffee spoke with Mark Brennae on CFAX 1070 to talk pipelines, whales, and how humans are implicated in the disappearance of species. There is, of course, the risk of an oil spill or a vessel strike, but the noise and disturbance on both inbound and outbound tankers is always a certainty. And that noise can reduce the whales ability to echolocate and communicate…