Drafter
Clerk 12/06/2021
Title
A MOTION supporting the Orca Protection Plan, the Quiet Sound Program and other efforts to protect the southern resident orca population, and requesting the King County executive to deploy the SoundGuardian, King County's research vessel, to coordinate with placing a hydrophone, in Puget Sound as part of the Port of Seattle's Quiet Sound Program to protect the southern resident orca population.
Body
WHEREAS, according to the Marine Mammal Commission, an independent agency of the United States government, the total abundance for the southern resident orca, also known as killer whale, population was revised in September 2020 and now stands at only seventy-four whales, down from a peak of nearly one hundred whales during the 1990s, and
WHEREAS, the Marine Mammal Commission indicates that the ongoing decline of the southern resident orca population is most likely due to decreased quantity and quality of prey, the presence of persistent organic pollutants and disturbance from vessel presence and noise, and
WHEREAS, in 2018, Governor Inslee created the Southern Resident Killer Whale Task Force to assist the state in identifying, prioritizing and supporting the implementation of an action plan for the recovery of southern resident orcas, and
WHEREAS, in 2019, the Northwest Seaport Alliance, the cargo-operating partnership of the ports of Tacoma and Seattle, in collaboration with Washington State Ferries, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Puget Sound Partnership developed an Orca Protection Plan to identify ways to protect the endangered southern resident orca population, and
WHEREAS, as part of that effort, the Port of Seattle launched the Quiet Sound Program, an initiative to reduce underwater noise from ferries and commercial vessels calling on Puget Sound ports, and
WHEREAS, the Quiet Sound Program is supported by the Port of Seattle, the Northwest Seaport Alliance, the United States Coast Guard, Washingto...
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