Review of the Effectiveness of Recovery Measures for Southern Resident Killer Whales

Objectives of this Review

Table of Contents

• Complete Text
• 1.0 Context/Background
• 2.0 Objectives of this Review
• 3.0 Sources of Information
• 4.0 Methods for Assessing Effectiveness of Recovery Measures
• 5.0 Review of Recovery Measures
  • 5.1 Identified Threats and Broad Strategies
  • 5.2 A Review of Recovery Measures
• 6.0 Effectiveness of Recovery Measures
  • 6.1 Prey Availability
  • 6.2 Acoustic and physical disturbance
  • 6.3 Environmental Contaminants
  • 6.4 Ship Strike
• 7.0 Effectiveness of Recovery Measures related to Critical Habitat
• 8.0 Recommendations about priority of Recovery Measures
• 9.0 Conclusions
• 10.0 Acknowledgements
• 11.0 References
• Appendix 1

2.0 Objectives of this Review

The Recovery Strategy for the Northern and Southern Resident Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) in Canada (DFO 2011) states the following goal (population and distribution objective) for the SRKW population:

Ensure the long-term viability of Resident Killer Whale populations by achieving and maintaining demographic conditions that preserve their reproductive potential, genetic variation, and cultural continuity ^{Footnote 1}.(DFO 2011).

The associated Action Plan for the Northern and Southern Resident Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) in Canada (DFO 2017) outlines Broad Strategies for recovery, and identifies 98 specific Recovery Measures to achieving them.

This review will provide a summary of the achievements to date on addressing the Recovery Measures and will provide an assessment of their overall effectiveness in terms of their ability to abate threats to recovery of the population. Research-based measures, while they do not directly abate threats, are also acknowledged for their role in addressing knowledge gaps in order to clarify the mechanism by which a threat impacts the population. This document also aims to identify how recovery can be better achieved by accelerating implementation of Recovery Measures not yet underway, by identifying new measures if needed, and by providing guidance on the relative priority of Recovery Measures required to promote recovery.