The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is seeking\u00a0data and\u00a0public\u00a0comments\u00a0on a petition\u00a0to list\u00a0Southern Resident Killer Whale\u00a0under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Southern Resident Killer Whale\u00a0(Orcinus orca)\u00a0is\u00a0a distinct population segment of\u00a0killer whale\u00a0found\u00a0along the\u00a0Pacific Coast between Southeast Alaska and Point Sur, California.\u00a0Southern Resident Killer Whales\u00a0primarily\u00a0eat fish\u00a0–\u00a0mostly\u00a0Chinook salmon\u00a0–\u00a0unlike\u00a0their more common\u00a0mammal-eating\u00a0cousins the\u00a0Transient (also called Biggs) Killer Whale.\u00a0There are three\u00a0pods, or social groups, of Southern Resident Killer Whale \u2013 the J, K, and L pods.\u00a0While all three pods spend\u00a0most of\u00a0their time in the Salish Sea of northern Washington and\u00a0southern British Columbia,\u00a0the\u00a0K and L pods have\u00a0also\u00a0been documented\u00a0within California waters, primarily during winter months.\u00a0Key\u00a0threats to Southern Resident Killer Whales include\u00a0malnutrition due to\u00a0reduced prey abundance,\u00a0vessel noise and disturbance,\u00a0exposure to chemical contaminants,\u00a0and the combined effects of these stressors.<\/p>\n
On\u00a0November\u00a025th,\u00a02025,\u00a0the\u00a0Orca Conservancy\u00a0submitted\u00a0a petition to the California Fish and Game Commission\u00a0(Commission)\u00a0to list\u00a0Southern Resident Killer Whale\u00a0as\u00a0an\u00a0endangered\u00a0species under CESA.\u00a0The\u00a0Commission published findings of its decision to\u00a0make the species a candidate for listing as\u00a0an\u00a0endangered\u00a0species\u00a0on\u00a0July 10th,\u00a02026,\u00a0and\u00a0as such,\u00a0Southern Resident Killer Whale\u00a0now\u00a0receives the same legal protection afforded to an endangered or threatened species (Fish and Game Code sections 2074.2 and 2085).<\/p>\n
As of\u00a0July 10th,\u00a02026,\u00a0CDFW\u00a0has 12 months to\u00a0conduct a status review\u00a0that will\u00a0inform the\u00a0Commission\u2019s\u00a0final\u00a0decision on whether to list\u00a0Southern Resident Killer Whale as threatened or\u00a0endangered\u00a0under CESA.\u00a0As part of the status review process, CDFW is soliciting\u00a0information\u00a0regarding the species\u2019 ecology,\u00a0genetics, life history, distribution, abundance,\u00a0habitat, the degree and immediacy of threats to its reproduction or survival, the adequacy of existing management,\u00a0and recommendations for management of the species.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
CDFW\u00a0respectfully\u00a0requests\u00a0that data and comments be\u00a0submitted\u00a0before\u00a0September 10th,\u00a02026,\u00a0to\u00a0allow sufficient time to evaluate this information during the status review period.\u00a0Submit\u00a0comments and general information on the petitioned action to\u00a0CDFW\u2019s\u00a0Marine Region\u00a0by email at\u00a0MarineCESA@wildlife.ca.gov<\/a>\u00a0and include \u201cSouthern Resident Killer Whale\u201d in the subject line. Comments may also be\u00a0submitted\u00a0by mail to California Department of Fish and Wildlife,\u00a0Marine Region, Attn:\u00a0Dylan Stompe, P.O. Box 944209, Sacramento, CA 94244-2090.\u00a0Please note that any information you\u00a0submit\u00a0(including your contact information) will become part of the public record and may be\u00a0disclosed\u00a0in response to a Public Records Act request.\u00a0<\/p>\n CDFW\u00a0will produce a peer-reviewed report based upon the best scientific information available,\u00a0which will\u00a0include a\u00a0recommendation as to\u00a0whether\u00a0the petitioned action\u00a0to list\u00a0Southern Resident Killer Whale\u00a0as\u00a0endangered\u00a0under CESA\u00a0is\u00a0warranted\u00a0(Fish\u00a0and\u00a0Game\u00a0Code\u00a0section\u00a02074.6).\u00a0The report will be made publicly available on\u00a0CDFW\u2019s website<\/a>\u00a0for at least 30 days before the Commission considers acting on the petition.\u00a0Please note, the Commission\u2014which is a legally separate entity from\u00a0CDFW\u2014is charged with making the final determination on whether to list a species as endangered or threatened under CESA (Fish\u00a0and\u00a0Game\u00a0Code\u00a0section\u00a02075.5).\u00a0CDFW\u00a0serves in a scientific advisory role to the Commission during this process. See the\u00a0California Fish and Game Commission\u00a0webpage<\/a>\u00a0for details on\u00a0submitting\u00a0comments to the Commission and receiving email alerts for upcoming Commission meetings.\u00a0<\/p>\n The\u00a0listing petition,\u00a0CDFW\u2019s petition evaluation report, and updates on the listing process<\/a>\u00a0are available\u00a0on the Commission\u2019s website.\u00a0<\/p>\n ###<\/p>\n Media Contacts:\u00a0
Dylan Stompe<\/a>,\u00a0CDFW\u00a0Marine Region,\u00a0(209) 639-2938\u00a0
Alicia\u00a0de\u00a0la Garza<\/a>,\u00a0CDFW\u00a0Communications, (916)\u00a0754-7237\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is seeking\u00a0data and\u00a0public\u00a0comments\u00a0on a petition\u00a0to list\u00a0Southern Resident Killer Whale\u00a0under the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401493,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,6889,8142,151962,12952,1009,19764],"class_list":["post-401492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-cesa","tag-comment","tag-killer-whale","tag-petition","tag-southern-california","tag-whale"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}