VANCOUVER—They are icons of B.C.’s pristine coast and wild beauty.

They are on the brink of extinction. Only 75 remain.

And this summer, the heart-wrenching image of a mother orca carrying her dead newborn for weeks in the Salish Sea drove home the severity of their plight.

But in their suffering, the southern resident killer whales underlined the potentially grave risks the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project would have brought with its influx of tankers.

The orcas may well have saved themselves, and assisted the Indigenous and environmentalist groups in having the pipeline’s construction suspended while doing so.

The whales did what scientists have been trying to do for decades, said Dr. Deborah Giles, a marine conservationist who sits on Washington’s orca-recovery task force.

“Scientists have a small voice. The whales have a big voice.”

Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal ruled Thursday that the National Energy Board’s environmental assessment had failed to consider the effect tanker traffic would have on the critically endangered southern resident killer whale population in the Salish Sea.

In the court’s decision to suspend the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, this particular population of killer whales was mentioned at least 57 times.

The images of J-35 repeatedly diving to retrieve her calf’s sinking body and pushing it to the surface pulled people’s heart strings in a profound and timely way, said Jason Colby, an environmental historian at the University of Victoria.

“It clearly had a really powerful political impact and it focused people’s attention on the fate of the southern residents in a way that no human beings have been able to do.”

Read more:

‘We are starving them’: Grieving orca mother belongs to endangered population facing grim future

Federal Court of Appeal quashes Trans Mountain approval, calling it ‘unjustified failure,’ in win for First Nations, environmentalists

Young wild orca finally receives antibiotics from veterinarian team

But the pipeline project’s fate is far from decided because the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion could still be built.

The court based its decision on two main considerations: The NEB excluded the effect of marine shipping on the endangered orcas and consultation with First Nations in the pipeline’s path was flawed.

That means the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion could still be built if the federal government asked the National Energy Board for a new environmental assessment and conducted further consultations with Indigenous groups, explained Dyna Tuytel, an Ecojustice lawyer who represented the Living Oceans Society and Raincoast Conservation Foundation in the case.

The federal government could also appeal the court’s decision.

The expansion project would twin the existing 1,100-kilometre pipeline and triple the flow of diluted bitumen and other oil products, sending 890,000 barrels a day from Alberta to B.C.’s coast.

It would also result in a sevenfold increase in tanker traffic through the Salish Sea from Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby.

The environmental experts interviewed for this story said they hoped the court’s decision Thursday was a “turning point” for the Canadian government when it comes to weighing the environment against economic or political gain.

“This is an example where (environmental laws) weren’t followed and the courts reminded cabinet that it is cabinet’s responsibility to follow the laws,” said Tuytel.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Tuytel said she could not recall another example where one group of animals made such a dramatic impact on a large federal project.

But the whales’ fate is also far from decided. Researchers say they are already essentially starving to death due to lack of their main prey, Chinook salmon.

The reasons for the dwindling Chinook salmon numbers include climate change, overfishing and the destruction of spawning habitat, according to experts.

Noise pollution from ship traffic in the already busy Salish Sea is also preventing the orcas from finding their prey. Toothed whales, like orcas, rely on echolocation to hunt.

And the southern resident orcas are swimming in a pool of toxins, added Dr. Peter Ross, a marine-mammal toxicologist with the Vancouver Aquarium who has been studying orcas for 20 years.

“It’s about ferries, navy boats, pleasure craft, dredging, pile driving ... If you want to talk about pollution and habitat and noise disturbance, this single pipeline project is not the only thing that is affecting killer whales.”

Researchers feared the sevenfold increase in tanker traffic and increased risk of oil spill from a pipeline expansion would have almost certainly meant extinction for the species.

Now the orcas have a fighting chance, said Giles, the marine conservationist: “The whales dodged a bullet.”

It’s a sorely needed piece of good news for researchers who have been tracking the declining population for decades.

Three out of the endangered 78 southern resident killer whales counted last summer have been declared dead in the past six months. More than half of the whales in the population were sired by just two male orcas, signalling the number of breeding-aged adults is far too small.

Between 2014 to 2016, there were 11 calves born in J-pod and L-pod. Dubbed the “baby boom,” it reignited hopes that the orca population would recover. But only half of the whales are still alive today.

One of them, four-year-old J-50, is so malnourished that she has grown only to the size of a one-year-old and is currently the target of an ambitious cross-border effort to save her.

The continuing spotlight on Canadian and American veterinarians’ efforts to deliver antibiotics to the ailing youngster shows people around the world are now invested, said Giles.

“Governments won’t be able to ignore that something drastic has to change and now the world is in love with this population,” she said.

“The world won’t let these whales perish.”

With files from Ainslie Cruickshank and David Ball

Read more about: