Southern resident killer whales

If the feds want to look like they're doing something on ocean noise while not taking any of the hard steps that requires, they could do worse than announcing a plan in which nine of the 20 “action items” involve some variation on “think really hard about it.”

A long-overdue federal strategy to tackle ocean noise is here at last — but some advocates say it falls short of what’s needed to protect species from the ever-increasing shipping traffic in Canadian waters.

The southern resident killer whale known as Tahlequah captured global sympathy in 2018 when she pushed the body of her dead calf for more than two weeks in waters off British Columbia's south coast.

It’s fair to say the shipping sector matters when it comes to putting efforts into reversing the interlinked issues the planet faces today. 

Canada can turn the tide and deliver its long-promised underwater noise strategy with fast and effective regulations that will cut the clamour of human activity polluting oceans and harming marine life everywhere, say conservation groups.

The British Columbia government has issued an environmental assessment certificate for the contentious container port expansion project at Roberts Bank, saying the province "could not prohibit the project from going forward."

The endangered whales roam waters off British Columbia and the U.S. northwest. Their dwindling population sits at 73, according to data from the American Marine Mammal Commission.

Researchers say British Columbia's southern resident killer whales are not only threatened by the decline of the overall salmon population but also the reduction in high-quality fatty salmon, the whales' preferred meal.

The federal government is putting $3.1 million into projects aimed at reducing underwater noise from vessels to protect marine mammals like southern resident killer whales.

A fishing boat that sank with nearly 10,000 litres of fuel on board near the Canada−U.S. marine border went down in one of the worst possible places for endangered orcas, an ocean pollutants expert says.

Boosted coast guard facilities and increased safeguards for Canada's coastal environments are part of an expanded $3.5-billion marine program that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has dubbed the "Oceans Protection Plan 2.0."

A plan to build a new shipping container terminal the size of nearly 144 football fields at a major Metro Vancouver port has sparked a rival proposal along with concerns for endangered orcas and the salmon they depend on.

Endangered southern resident killer whales would have a much better chance of survival if chinook were in their hunting grounds during winter off the coast of British Columbia, a new study says.

The Canadian Coast Guard will report whale sightings in real time from a new marine mammal desk established to protect endangered southern resident killer whales and other cetaceans in British Columbia waters.

Transport Canada confirms it has issued 159 written warnings and logged 51 verbal warnings as of this month, and that those represented the entirety of the enforcement actions it took so far this year, pending some cases still “under review.”