A federal government plan aimed at bolstering the populations of endangered northern and southern resident killer whales needs to be reconsidered, says Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke MP Randall Garrison.
Garrison called the Liberal plan a rehash of the Conservative draft plan, but the federal Liberals say their plan is focused on research.
“This plan falls short of offering specific actions, and instead once again focuses on research even though the principles of the Species at Risk Act state that action should not be delayed in the absence of full scientific certainty,” said Garrison in a press release.
Garrison is calling for the government to immediately restore funding to non-government agencies to bring back on-the-water monitoring by those who only have the interests of the whales as a mandate.
He also said the government needs to convene a local emergency summit on southern resident killer whales with First Nations, whale experts, whale watchers, whale scientists and local anglers to identify immediate actions to improve the viability of the whale populations and for the federal government to allocate funding to those initiatives.
There are only 80 southern resident killer whales remaining worldwide.
