Take action: Protect orcas by opposing the whalewatch licensing loophole

The new rules for commercial whale watching of Southern Resident orcas are only weeks old, yet they are already under attack in the state legislature by the commercial whale watch industry. These rules were adopted by the Fish and Wildlife Commission in December in order to reduce impacts of vessel noise and disturbance, a key recommendation of the Orca Recovery Task Force. A bipartisan majority of legislators voted for the approach that was carried out by the Department of Fish and Wildlife using public funds over the past year.

However, the industry lobbied for a new bill now being considered in the state legislature that would take a wrecking ball to the rules, creating an unacceptable loophole that removes the licensing requirement for all whale watching and commercial operators. What remains would be an ineffective opt-in program that is not in the best interests of Southern Resident orcas.

Email your Senator today and urge them to oppose this loophole!

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Subject:

Please oppose SB 5330

Dear Senator,

I strongly oppose SB 5330 Regarding commercial whale watching licenses. I ask you to vote no on SB 5330.

On the surface, SB 5330 looks innocuous, as it only changes the definition of commercial whale watching. However, by changing the definition to only include the viewing of Southern Resident orcas, it creates an enormous loophole that erases most of the benefits the license program and the science-based rules that were approved by the Fish & Wildlife Commission in December 2020.
In 2019, a bipartisan majority voted to pursue the rules recently completed by the Department of Fish and Wildlife as a result of SB 5577, which cost the State of Washington >$1,500,000 to implement in the current biennium.

It’s premature to amend the commercial whale watching licensing program when it’s been in effect less than a month, especially given that the law requires “an analysis and report to the governor and the legislature on the effectiveness of and any recommendations for changes to the whale watching rules, license fee structure, and approach distance rules by November 30, 2022, and every two years thereafter until 2026.”

By changing the definition of commercial whale watching to only include the viewing of Southern Resident orcas, commercial whale watch operators that define their viewing of Southern Residents as inadvertent or opportunistic, could avoid the license requirement. If they don’t have to get a license, none of the new rules would apply to them. They wouldn’t be subject to any of the new science-based and precautionary rules to reduce daily and cumulative impacts on the endangered orca.

Furthermore, SB 5330 would make the new rules for viewing Southern Residents unenforceable. WDFW enforcement would have difficulty determining whether an unlicensed operator was viewing Southern Resident orcas deliberately or inadvertently. The burden of proof would be on enforcement to show intent and that would be hard if not impossible. Historically, many reported boater violations have not been prosecuted for this reason.

Meanwhile, it just isn’t logical to define commercial whale-watching as being only about Southern Resident orcas. Commercial whale-watch operators spend significant amounts of time with other whale species, from transient killer whales to humpbacks to minke whales. The protective rules in the commercial whale watching licensing program apply only to viewing Southern Resident orcas, but it is important for all operators that take customers to view all whales to be required to get the license in order for the program to be effective and enforceable. Senate Bill 5330 would create loopholes so that operators don’t need a license until they are actually viewing Southern Residents.

Commercial fishing operations and hunting guides require licensing – commercial whale watch operators should also be licensed.

I urge you to oppose SB 5330.

Thank you, Your Name

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