The Southern Resident Orcas

NEED OUR HELP

Despite federal and state endangered
species protections, the population of
Southern Resident orcas has fallen to
the lowest level in over four decades.

Southern Residents are struggling from a Join the urgent call to action:
lack of Chinook salmon, compounded by the help Washington achieve a
stresses from vessel noise and disturbance,
contaminants in their ecosystem and the thriving and resilient population
long-term threats to their survival from of Southern Resident orcas,
climate change, ocean acidification and living in healthy waters and
human population growth. inspiring our descendants with
The road to sustained Southern Resident their majesty.
recovery is through swift, bold and
impactful solutions.

Recommendations for Recovery

The Governor’s Office appointed nearly 50 representatives from diverse sectors to the Southern
Resident Orca Task Force. Working alongside sovereign tribal partners, the Task Force has
developed 49 bold science-based recommendations for moving the needle on orca recovery.
These recommended actions are intended to:
• Increase Chinook abundance
• Decrease vessel disturbance and noise
• Reduce Southern Resident orca’s (and their food web) exposure to
contaminants
• Ensure funding, information, and accountability mechanisms are in place to
support implementation of Task Force recommendations
• Reduce threats from climate change and ocean acidification
• Reduce threats from rapid human population growth and development

How can you become an orca recovery champion?

• Use the Southern Resident Orca Task Force’s 49 recommendations as a roadmap to orca recovery.
• Stay engaged and advocate for institutional change.
• Continue to work with local, state, and federal policymakers to demand swift action on funding and
policies that support orca recovery.
 1 2
Significantly increase investment in
restoration and acquisition of habitat
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ORCA RECOVERY
in areas where Chinook stocks most
benefit Southern Resident orcas.
The Washington State Governor’s Southern Resident Killer Whale Task Force
www.governor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/OrcaTaskForce_FinalReportandRecommendations_11.07.19.pdf
8 9
Increase spill to benefit Chinook for
Southern Residents by adjusting total
dissolved gas allowances at the Snake
and Columbia River dams.
15
Monitor forage fish populations to
inform decisions on harvest and
management actions that provide
for sufficient feedstocks to support
increased abundance of Chinook.
22
Implement shipping noise-reduction
initiatives and monitoring programs,
coordinating with Canadian and U.S.
authorities.
29
Accelerate the implementation of the
ban on polychlorinated biphenyls in
state-purchased products and make
information available online for other
purchasers.
36
Monitor progress of implementation
and identify needed enhancements.
43
Take aggressive, comprehensive and
sustained action to reduce human-
caused greenhouse gas emissions,
with the goal of achieving net zero
emissions by 2050.
Immediately fund acquisition and
restoration of nearshore habitat to
increase the abundance of forage fish
for salmon sustenance.
Establish a stakeholder process to
discuss potential breaching or removal
of the lower Snake River Dams for the
benefit of Southern Resident orcas.
16
Support the Puget Sound zooplankton
sampling program as a Chinook and
forage fish management tool.
23
Reduce noise from the Washington
state ferries by accelerating the
transition to quieter and more fuel-
efficient vessels and implementing
other strategies to reduce ferry noise
when Southern Residents are present.
30
Identify, prioritize and take action
on chemicals that impact orcas and
their prey.
37
Protect against regulatory rollbacks at
the federal and state level.
44
Increase Washington’s ability to
understand, reduce, remediate, and
adapt to the consequences of ocean
acidification.
3 4
Apply and enforce laws that protect
habitat.
10
Support full implementation and
funding of the 2019–28 Pacific
Salmon Treaty.
17
Establish a statewide “go-slow” bubble
for small vessels and commercial
whale watching vessels within half a
nautical mile of Southern Resident
orcas.
24
Reduce the threat of oil spills in Puget
Sound to the survival of Southern
Residents.
31
Reduce stormwater threats and
accelerate clean-up of toxics harmful
to orcas.
38
Explore setting minimum standards
for local stormwater funding to ensure
that all programs have the resources
necessary to protect water quality.
45
Mitigate the impact of a changing
climate by accelerating and increasing
action to increase the resiliency and
vitality of salmon populations and the
ecosystems on which they depend.
Immediately strengthen protection
of Chinook and forage fish habitat
through legislation that amends
existing statutes, agency rulemaking
and/or agency policy.
11
Reduce Chinook bycatch in West
Coast commercial fisheries.
18
Establish a limited-entry whale-
watching permit system for
commercial whale-watching vessels
and commercial kayak groups in the
inland waters of Washington state to
increase acoustic and physical refuge
opportunities for the orcas.
25
Coordinate with the Navy in 2019
to discuss reduction of noise and
disturbance affecting Southern
Resident orcas from military exercises
and Navy aircraft.
32
Improve effectiveness,
implementation and enforcement
of National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System permits to address
direct threats to Southern Resident
orcas and their prey.
39
Develop a National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System permit
framework for advanced wastewater
treatment in Puget Sound to reduce
nutrients in wastewater discharges to
Puget Sound by 2022.
46
Expand the Governor’s Maritime Blue scope
of work and provide funding to implement
recommendations from the Southern
Resident Orca Task Force and pursue
shipping and other maritime innovations
that benefit Southern Residents.
5 6
Develop incentives to encourage
voluntary actions to protect habitat.
12
Direct the appropriate agencies to
work with tribes and National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration to
determine if pinniped (harbor seal and
sea lion) predation is a limiting factor
for Chinook in Puget Sound and along
Washington’s outer coast and evaluate
potential management actions.
19
Create an annual Orca Protection
endorsement for all recreational
boaters to ensure all boaters are
educated on how to limit boating
impacts to orcas.
26
Revise chapter 77.15.740 RCW to
increase the buffer to 400 yards
behind the orcas.
33
Increase monitoring of toxic
substances in marine waters; create
and deploy adaptive management
strategies to reduce threats to orcas
and their prey.
40
Better align existing nonpoint
programs with nutrient reduction
activities and explore new ways to
achieve the necessary nonpoint
source nutrient reductions.
47
Identify and mitigate increased threats to
Southern Residents from contaminants due
to climate change and ocean acidification.
Prioritize actions that proactively reduce
exposure where the increased impacts are
expected to be most severe.
Significantly increase hatchery production
and programs to benefit Southern Resident
orcas consistent with sustainable fisheries
and stock management, available habitat,
recovery plans and the Endangered Species
Act. Hatchery increases need to be done in
concert with significantly increased habitat
protection and restoration measures.
13
Support authorization and other
actions to more effectively manage
pinniped predation of salmon in the
Columbia River.
20
Increase enforcement capacity and
fully enforce regulations on small
vessels to provide protection to
Southern Residents.
27
Determine how permit applications in
Washington state that could increase
traffic and vessel impacts could be
required to explicitly address potential
impacts to orcas.
34
Provide sustainable funding
for implementation of all
recommendations.
41
Collect high-quality nutrient data in
watersheds to fill key knowledge gaps
of baseline conditions.
48
Adopt and implement policies, incentives and
regulations for future growth and development
to prevent any further degradation of critical
habitat and sensitive ecosystems; enable and
channel population growth in ways that result
in net ecological gain; evaluate and report
outcomes for all jurisdictions at the state,
county, tribal and municipal level.
7
Prepare an implementation strategy
to reestablish salmon runs above
existing dams, increasing prey
availability for Southern Resident
orcas.
14
Reduce populations of nonnative
predatory fish species that prey upon
or compete with Chinook.
21
Discourage the use of echo sounders
and underwater transducers within 1
kilometer of orcas.
28
Suspend viewing of Southern
Resident orcas.
35
Conduct research, science and
monitoring to inform decision-
making, adaptive management and
implementation of actions to recover
Southern Residents.
42
Create one or more entities with authority
and funding to recover and advocate for
Southern Resident orcas by implementing
task force recommendations, creating
new recommendations as needed and
reporting to the public, governor and tribal
co-managers on status.
49
Conduct a comprehensive environmental
review and take action to minimize
potential whale-strike risk and underwater
noise posed by the growing number and
distribution of fast-ferries and water taxis
in Southern Resident critical habitat.
 Why are Southern Resident Orcas

Not enough food

Southern Resident orcas rely on Chinook
salmon for about 80% of their diet. Many
Chinook populations have declined to a fraction
DYING?
of their historic abundance and are returning
younger and smaller. These significant shifts
are making Chinook less available and less
nutritious for Southern Resident orcas.
Priority recommendations will:

• Protect and restore salmon habitat

• Optimize hatchery production
• Support hydropower solutions that improve
salmon survival
• Decrease salmon predation from
pinnipeds and predatory fish

Too much noise

Too much pollution
Southern Residents and their prey are
exposed to an ever-increasing mixture of
pollutants in the marine environment. These
toxics can reduce salmon survival by making
them more susceptible to disease, which in
turn means less food is available to the orcas.
The toxic contaminants can also reduce
immunity and cause reproductive disruption
in orcas.
Priority recommendations will:
Vessels transiting near Southern Resident
orcas can disturb and displace them from
their preferred areas. Underwater noise can
mask or impair orca communication and
echolocation (the method orcas use to find
their prey).
Priority recommendations will:
• Improve standards and strengthen restrictions
for vessel traffic near orca populations
• Grow orca awareness among people who use
local waters for transportation, fishing, tourism,
and recreation
• Promote the use of technologies that
reduce noise and limit interference with orca
echolocation

• Equip state authorities to shape effective new

pollution prevention
policies that target chemicals of concern and
human sources of nutrients
• Provide funding for water quality education,
enforcement, contamination prevention,
cleanup, and stormwater infrastructure

Read the full report online at

www.governor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/OrcaTaskForce_FinalReportandRecommendations_11.07.19.pdf