11-8-2018
OLYMPIA, Wash. — A state task force on critically-endangered orcas wants to temporarily suspend whale-watching boat tours focused on those whales.
The group that advises Governor Jay Inslee voted to recommend a three- to five-year moratorium on viewing southern resident killer whales by all boats in Puget Sound.
But task force member Jeff Friedman, who operates Maya’s Legacy Whale Watching in Friday Harbor, says the proposal doesn’t address the biggest threat to the orcas.
“Their primary challenge is a lack of food, a lack of chinook salmon. And the primary actions that need to be coming out of this task force, as well as the Canadian side of the border, have to concern wild salmon recovery,” Friedman says.
The proposed moratorium would not apply to boat tours to see other whales in the region, including gray or transient killer whales.