Commissioners:
Whale-watching rules a priority
By Matt Pranger
posted 11/29/00
San Juan County commissioners yesterday, Nov. 28, directed the county Marine Resource Committee to make drafting whalewatching policies and regulations its number one priority. Commissioners gave the direction after Mark Anderson of Orca Relief Citizens' Alliance presented a petition calling for a ban on chasing whales.
"I urge the MRC to take this issue on and to take it on seriously," said Commissioner John Evans of Orcas.
MRC Chair Jim Slocomb said the committee held a fact-finding meeting on Nov. 1 and decided San Juan County should have a role in regulating the whale-watching industry. How to accomplish that is part of the MRC's work plan for 2001. He told commissioners draft policy and regulations would likely result from MRC work sessions.
"I'd like to have something completed before the summer season starts," Evans said of the potential whale-watching rules.
Commissioner Darcie Nielsen, referring to the county's work in banning personal-water craft, said the possibility of the local orcas' extinction is of "far greater concern than a major invasion of Jet-Skis."
"The tragedy that looms before us ... is incredibly painful," said Board of County Commissioners Chair Rhea Miller.
She suggested a workshop be planned with the MRC and representatives of the whale-watching industry, enforcement agencies and the scientific community. "We also need to allow enough time for a public hearing before the summer months," Miller noted.
Orca Relief, a non-profit organization, collected 1,430 signatures, 1,119 of them from San Juan County residents, in support of the prohibition of chasing. "By any measure, this is the most popular and broadly-supported petition drive and political cause in the history of San Juan County," according to a letter accompanying the petition.
Some scientists believe decreases in salmon runs, accumulation of toxins in the orcas and the mammals' interaction with boats, the top stresses. Others question whether whale-watching boats harm the whales. Orca Relief maintains ceasing whale chasing -- serially changing boat position to maintain contact -- is the easiest way to reduce stress on the orcas.
Anderson claimed all the San Juan Islands' 82 resident whales could be extinct in three to five years. "We do not believe that any citizen or business owner in San Juan County wants to see the disappearance of the orca in his or her lifetime," according to the Orca Relief letter. "The impacts on both our lives, and our economy, would be enormous. We need a strong, enforceable law, drafted and passed before next spring, as a first step in this many-step process."
Orca Relief proposes "private and commercial whale watchers could continue to approach whales, stop their boats, but then would be required to cease following the whales. Return trips from home port would also be allowed."
Anderson suggested on-the-water enforcement might not be necessary to nab chasers. He suggested volunteers using land-based digital cameras could photograph boats. After the boat operators were identified, they could be cited.
Levying progressively more expensive fines would also deter violators, Anderson said. The fines would bring in between $125,000 to $160,000 annually, Anderson estimated. Additional funds and equipment donations could be secured by Orca Relief, Anderson said.
For several views on whale-watching's impacts, see the Marine Resource Committee minutes from a panel discussion on the topic.
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Orca Relief's petition to San Juan County Commissioners:
Whereas our local (southern resident) orca whale population is now in full crisis, deemed "threatened" by Canadian authorities, losing 17 percent in numbers through death in less than three years, and resulting in the first-ever movements of local K and L pods to Monterey, Calif. waters this winter;
And whereas, given the stresses caused by reduced salmon populations, increased pollution, and ongoing acoustic and physical harassment by all manner of whale-watching craft, we are aware we can only affect the latter in a meaningful time period;
And given the importance that all of us, citizens and business owners alike, attach to the continued presence of orca in our waters, now in certain decline; therefore
We petition you to enact an appropriate resolution banning all chasing* of whales in county waters as soon as possible, knowing that any delay in this action may contribute to the ongoing demise of our local orca pods.
* chasing: serially changing boat position to maintain contact.
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