Administration Sued for Failing to Protect Endangered West Coast Orcas

By Janet Thomas|August 19, 2019|News, Orca Relief, Press Releases, Protection Zone, SRKWs|

Lawsuit Calls for ‘Whale Protection Zone’ As More Southern Residents Die SEATTLE— Conservation groups sued the Trump administration today for ignoring a legal petition to protect critically endangered Southern Resident killer whales in the heart of their Salish Sea habitat. Today’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington by the Center for Biological Diversity and Orca Relief Citizens’ Alliance (ORCA), follows news that three more of these starving orcas

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Fisheries Meeting Aims to Ensure Enough West Coast Salmon for Starving Orcas

By srschram|May 23, 2019|Orca, Press Releases, Protection Zone, Salmon, SRKWs|

Lawsuit Prompts Consultation to Save Southern Resident Killer Whales PORTLAND, Ore.— Federal, state and tribal fishery managers and experts on critically endangered Southern Resident killer whales begin meeting today to discuss how West Coast salmon fishing is limiting availability of the starving orcas’ main food source. The National Marine Fisheries Service recommended the working group after being put on notice in December that its outdated analysis violated the Endangered Species Act as this

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Lawsuit Forces Federal Protection for Endangered Orcas’ West Coast Habitat

By srschram|April 12, 2019|Orca, Press Releases, Protection Zone, SRKWs|

SEATTLE— The Center for Biological Diversity has won a victory in the legal battle to force the Trump administration to protect the West Coast habitat of the last remaining Southern Resident killer whales.  The National Marine Fisheries Service has committed to proposing a rule acting on the Center’s 2014 petition for orca habitat protection off Washington, Oregon and California. An expanded designation of critical habitat has to be proposed by early October

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Lawsuit Aims to Protect West Coast Salmon for Starving Orcas

By srschram|April 3, 2019|Orca, Press Releases, Protection Zone, Salmon, SRKWs|

Southern Resident Population Drops to 75 as Trump Administration Ignores Fisheries’ Impact SEATTLE— The Center for Biological Diversity and Wild Fish Conservancy sued the Trump administration today for mismanaging West Coast salmon fisheries and harming critically endangered Southern Resident killer whales, a violation of the Endangered Species Act. That orca population has dropped to just 75 individuals, mostly because declining salmon runs have left them without enough to eat.  Today’s lawsuit was

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Environmentalists sue federal government in Seattle to protect endangered orcas

By Janet Thomas|August 16, 2018|News, Orca Relief, Protection Zone, SRKWs, Whales|

From the Seattle Times: An environmental conservation group has sued the federal government, alleging it failed to meet its obligation to protect the habitat of endangered southern-resident killer whales on the West Coast. The lawsuit was filed Thursday by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) [and Orca Relief] to hold the government accountable for allegedly violating the Endangered Species Act by not acting on a 2014 petition filed by CBD

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