A new law requiring all boaters to stay a minimum of 1,000 yards away from endangered southern resident orcas in Washington waters is now in effect.The law aims to protect southern resident orcas from noise caused by boat traffic, which could affect their likelihood of hunting prey such as Chinook salmon. Gov. Jay Inslee signed Senate Bill 5371 in 2023, and the law went into effect Jan. 1.The southern resident population continues to decline — the latest Center for Whale Research census tallied 73.Just last week, a new J pod calf born to mother orca Tahlequah died just days later. Tahlequah is now once again carrying the dead calf, according to researchers, as she did in 2018 in a 17-day, 1,000-mile tour that shocked the region and world.The 1,000-yard requirement had existed for commercial whale-watching boats for most of the year. But before this law, recreational boaters were required to stay only 400 yards from the orcas.Boaters who violate the expanded buffer requirement could receive a $500 fine.The state Department of Fish and Wildlife released a report in 2022 recommending the legislature increase the buffer for all boats to 1,000 yards.“The Department of Fish and Wildlife did a review of the latest science and found that the current 300 or 400 yards is not enough to minimize those impacts on their foraging,” Nora Nickum with the Seattle Aquarium, who helped draft the bill, said in 2023.The report summarized the existing research, including a study that revealed boats within 1,640 yards, “even those operating at just 1-2 knots,” affected the southern residents’ hunting success.Two-thirds of southern resident pregnancies end in loss because of a lack of food. Chinook salmon, their prey of choice, face human-made barriers, pollutants and hungry seals and sea lions.Keep Reading
