A tanker is anchored in Burrard Inlet just outside of Burnaby, B.C., on Friday, Nov. 25, 2016. The federal government is seeking a way to regulate underwater shipping noise as part of its plan to protect an endangered group of killer whales from increased oil tanker traffic off Vancouver.JONATHAN HAYWARD/The Canadian Press
The federal government is seeking a way to regulate underwater shipping noise as part of its plan to protect an endangered group of killer whales from increased oil tanker traffic off Vancouver.
The news comes as environmental groups are poised to file a new lawsuit challenging the Liberal cabinet's approval of Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, alleging the government failed to mitigate the project's impact on the iconic southern resident killer whales.
Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc told The Canadian Press he has been working with Transport Minister Marc Garneau on a revamped recovery plan for the approximately 80 remaining whales that spend about half their lives in the busy Salish Sea.
"Certain ships emit more noise than others, certain kinds of propellers and other things in the water are noisier than others," said Mr. LeBlanc.
"There is an engineering and a scientific way that the noise can be limited by regulation. We would hope to get to a circumstance where there would be no net increase in the noise — in spite of the potentially increased tanker traffic."
Mr. LeBlanc acknowledged that the fate of the emblematic B.C. marine mammals, formally listed as endangered since 2005, has been further complicated by the Liberal government's approval late last month of an expanded Trans Mountain oil pipeline.
Under the plan, about 34 tankers a month will move diluted bitumen from the pipeline terminal in Burnaby, B.C., through Burrard Inlet and into Juan de Fuca Strait, up from about five a month currently making the passage.
Shipping noise interferes with the ability of killer whales to track prey and communicate with one another in the hunt, and is considered one of several key stressors on the population.
Mr. Garneau said in an e-mail the government "will also be looking to our U.S. neighbour on a join noise mitigation approach."
"In addition, given that highest vessel traffic is from ferries, we will also be working with BC Ferries on possible approaches that will help us achieve our objectives."
Three environmental groups sought a judicial review in June of the National Energy Board's approval of the pipeline, arguing the regulator failed in its duty to consider the Species At Risk Act as it applied to the project's impact on the killer whales' habitat. That court case remains on hold, but could be superseded later today when the same groups file a suit against the federal cabinet's decision to approve.