The Port of Vancouver reminds the shipping industry that as of June 1 the commercial shipping sector is alerted to begin voluntarily slowing their ships southern resident killer whales return to Haro Strait and Boundary Pass to feed for the summer.
This year, in attempts to further reduce underwater noise on whales in a larger geographic area, the trial zone is expanded to include both Haro Strait and Boundary Pass, which were identified by Fisheries and Oceans Canada earlier this year as key killer whale foraging areas.
Therefore, the distance of the trial area has been increased 15.1 nautical miles from previous ECHO Program voluntary ship slowdown trials for a total of 29.6 nautical miles.
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The ECHO Program, being implemented for a third year in a row, is coordinated by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority-led Enhancing Cetacean Habitat and Observation (ECHO) Program, which aims to reduce underwater noise from large commercial ships that could affect these at-risk whales.
Moreover, this year’s aim, which is boosted by expanding the area of vessels’ speed slowing down, is to maximize the advantages to southern resident killer whales by ensuring as many ships as possible participate in the expanded trial.
The voluntary ship slowdown will continue until September 30, 2019 with two-week extensions to no later than October 31 if southern resident killer whales are still present in the area.
The ECHO Program is partnering with government agencies, marine transportation industries, Indigenous individuals, conservation and environmental groups and scientists through its advisory working group and associated technical committees.
As the ECHO program was being implemented the past two summer seasons, the results showed that reducing ship speed, also reduced the underwater noise in nearly habitats, highlighting that the continuity of the program will benefit the behaviour and feeding success of southern resident killer whales.
Duncan Wilson, vice-president of environmental community and aboriginal affairs at the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority commented
We look forward to continuing this important research to reduce underwater noise effects from ships on whales, in particular the iconic southern resident killer whales.
