Good morning! Last year the Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration for failing to issue habitat protections required by the Endangered Species Act. After a court-ordered agreement in April 2019 the federal government proposed a new rule expanding critical habitat protection along the West Coast for endangered Southern Resident killer whales, whose population has dipped to just 73 orcas. The expanded habitat proposal covers important foraging areas, river mouths and migratory pathways along the Pacific Coast from the Canadian border to Big Sur, California. Added to the current habitat protections in Washington’s Salish Sea, the total designation would be more than 18,000 square miles of marine habitat.

Action No. 1 Comments in support of expanding this critical habitat for orcas can be made here. The comment period closes on December 18.
https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=NOAA-NMFS-2014-0041-0278

Have a whale of a Monday!  Betty