News Room
Court case to decide if federal Fisheries is failing West Coast killer whales
VANCOUVER - The federal Fisheries Department is failing threatened and endangered killer whales off the West Coast by failing to follow its own laws to protect species at risk, says a coalition of conservation groups.
The coalition led by Ecojustice is suing the department, putting its interpretation of the federal Species at Risk Act on trial in a Vancouver courtroom.
The coalition, which includes the David Suzuki Foundation and Greenpeace, alleges the federal government has violated the legislation, putting West Coast killer whales in danger by not protecting critical habitat as required under the act.
"The southern resident population numbers around 85, it's a critical state and unless they start to address the key threats to decline, it's going to go extinct," Devon Page, Ecojustice's executive director, said outside court Tuesday.
The southern resident population is listed as endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. The northern resident population, believed to be about 235 orcas, is listed as threatened.
Margot Venton, the coalition's lawyer, said despite what Ottawa suggests, critical habitat is much more than just a place on a map.
When it comes to killer whales, Venton said, biological factors such as lack of food, water pollution, and marine noise must be considered alongside geophysical characteristics.
Critical habitat is defined as the habitat endangered or threatened species need to survive and recover. What's being debated inside the courtroom is which elements make up that definition.
The federal court case is scheduled to be heard for five days before Justice James Russell.
DFO lawyers did not have an opportunity to present their case on the first day of proceedings.
In a court filing, department lawyers said an order has already been applied to the entire critical habitat of northern and southernresident orcas that prevents its destruction. The document said the order fully meets the critical habitat requirements of the Species At Risk Act.
Page said the 2009 order still does not go far enough.
"We are asking for an order that the minister (of fisheries and oceans) go back, do what's required under the Species at Risk Act, which would require releasing a protection order that identifies how they're going to protect the critical habitat of the orca," he said.
Page said there are a number of serious threats to killer whales, including lack of food, primarily chinook salmon, and extensive pollution in the water orcas call home.
"Thirdly, they've got to start protecting the orca from noise," he said. "More recent research suggests that the noise, the amount of boat traffic, seismic testing, drilling, that affects the ability of the orca to find its prey, to find its food."
Though the federal court case deals specifically with killer whales, the coalition hopes the decision will ensure greater protection for all endangered species.
Page said the case is part of what's become a 15-year campaign by Ecojustice to protect threatened and endangered species. The group is hoping a court victory ensures stronger legal protection for all affected animals.
Ecojustice has won previous federal court orders protecting the critical habitat of several species of birds and small fish.
Last September, the federal court ruled against DFO for its policy towards a little-known B.C. fish, the Nooksack Dace.
The court said DFO was wrong to exclude specific information from a recovery strategy about the Nooksack dace's critical habitat. The government is required to include as much information as possible when drafting a recovery strategy.
And the federal court ruled last July that while it wasn't illegal, Ottawa acted unreasonably by not identifying critical habitat in a recovery plan for the endangered greater sage grouse.
