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Killer whales spotted in Burrard Inlet, boaters reminded to slow down

Researchers with the Vancouver Aquarium's Ocean Wise research team spotted killer whales in Burrard Inlet earlier today.

Researchers with the Vancouver Aquarium's Ocean Wise research team spotted killer whales in Burrard Inlet earlier today.

"The last report we received was of the whales near Spanish Banks, so, although we can’t predict their path, it sounds like they briefly came into Burrard Inlet and then headed out again," says aquarium spokesperson Deanna Lancaster.

The whales are believed to be Transient or Biggs orcas that are listed as threatened and feed on other marine mammals including seals. Resident orca populations feed primarily on salmon and the southern resident killer whale population is listed as endangered.

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Lancaster says the researchers observed that some of the boating around the whales was unsafe for the animals -- too fast, cutting the whales off or driving between them.

Boaters are being reminded to slow down to seven knots (15 km/h) when they are within 400 metres of the whales, travel in a parallel direction instead of approaching from the front or behind, avoid abrupt course changes, don't park in their path and stay at least 100 metres away.

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She says if people see whales, dolphins, porpoises or sea turtles they can report it to the BC Cetacean Sightings Network, which is a conservation research program managed by Ocean Wise's Coastal Ocean Research Institute in partnership with Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

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Last week, the federal government announced it would reduce the amount of chinook salmon commercial fisheries would be allowed to catch to preserve prey for the southern resident population.

The government also committed $9.5 million in funding under the Oceans Protection Plan for eight projects across B.C. that aim to restore habitat for chinook salmon.

"There are other factors that are impacting the whales but the fact that they don't have enough food to eat is the biggest problem right now," says Deborah Giles, a research scientist with the University of Washington that has been studying the whales since 2005.

The federal announcement follows news from the Centre for Whale Research that they believe southern resident L92, a male named Crewser, is dead -- reducing the population to 75 individuals.

Another young whale, J50, a female named Scarlet, has been observed by researchers as emaciated.

"That's a young animal, J50 and that one's going to be particularly tragic if she passes away because we need our females. There are very few females left in the population and she's too young to be reproducing but if we lose her now then she will never grow up in order to reproduce," says Giles.

She says she's hopeful for the future of the southern resident killer whales because elected officials have been taking the issue seriously and getting involved. "It's very important that the public get this information and the elected officials are taking this situation seriously."