The orca, also known as the killer whale, can’t seem to stay out of the news of late, especially a group of them known as the “southern population,” a discrete assemblage of salmon-eating orcas who live off the coast of southern British Columbia. They are genetically distinct from other orcas, and have distinctive behavioural traits. Only 75 of them are left.
One of them, named J-35, received international attention last month when her baby died. For 17 days she kept by the body, attended by other members of the group. This had been the southern population’s first birth in three years and the infant died a half hour after birth. A three-year old member of the group seems to be dying, and hit the news when scientists fired a dart full of antibiotics into her in an attempt to save her life, although the latest theory is that she is overburdened with parasitic worms.
The southern population was also in the news when the Federal Court of Appeal recently ruled against allowing the National Energy Board’s decision to permit the Kinder Morgan trans-mountain pipeline to proceed, citing, in part, the government’s failure to properly assess the effect this project would have on the orcas, which are protected under the Species At Risk Act. Orcas were mentioned 57 times within the 200 page report. The pipeline was to bring oil to the coast to be shipped overseas, and the assessment failed to consider the effect of oil tankers on this vulnerable population of whales and other wildlife.
The court’s decision does not necessarily end the threat of the pipeline and oil terminal, but I can’t imagine how any fair and accurate assessment could conclude that the envisioned terminal and tanker traffic would not significantly increase the risks to an already endangered population of orcas. Additionally, consultation with First Nations was deemed to have been inadequate, exactly as the First Nations opponents to the project have been saying all along.
Meanwhile, six major Canadian conservation groups have filed a lawsuit in federal court over the Canadian government’s failure to issue an emergency order to protect the southern population as, they claim, are mandated for exactly this kind of situation where an endangered population or species needs an immediate increase of protective measures. The government counters that it is doing all it can. I am not nearly well enough informed to comment on who is correct, but there is a fascinating aspect to the situation that is generally ingored. While the orca is currently regarded as a single species, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says there is “…extensive and growing evidence that it is in fact a complex of multiple forms with morphological, genetic, ecological, and behavioral differences…”
In fact, the southern population could be a “cryptic species” – a species that has not been described as such because it has been confused with other, very similar, species. Whatever it is, it is certainly critically endangered. It is unique. And, its survival depends on us making right decisions.
Keep Wildlife in the Wild,
Barry