Re: 鈥淯rgent action needed to aid threatened southern resident whales,鈥� comment, Nov. 2.
While we welcome recognition by ministers Jonathan Wilkinson and Marc Garneau of the urgency required to protect southern resident orcas, the government鈥檚 efforts are still far short of what is needed, especially when they are ignoring a huge threat that the Trudeau government is pushing on the species: the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
Building Trans Mountain, as the Trudeau government has pledged to do many times, would increase oilsands tanker traffic seven-fold and cut right through the heart of the orcas鈥� habitat.
The project would increase underwater noise and physical disturbance in orca habitat, increase the risks of an ocean spill, and threaten salmon populations the orcas rely on for sustenance.聽
Toxic pollution, noise and lack of prey are all significant reasons that the southern residents are endangered.
If the government truly wants to protect this species, it means both minimizing and eliminating current threats, and not increasing the problem by adding new ones.
The ministers are right to be concerned about the survival of the 74 remaining orcas.
But measures to protect them without addressing the added strain and risks of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion are likely to fail this culturally significant and revered species.
Sarah King and Mike Hudema
Greenpeace sa国际传媒
