VANCOUVER—The steps the federal government is taking to protect endangered killer whales aren’t enough to help declining populations recover, advocates say, following “devastating” news that another Southern Resident whale is presumed dead.

The Washington-based Center for Whale Research announced late last week that Crewser, a member of L-Pod, who was also known as L-92, hadn’t been seen since last fall and is presumed he died.

With his death, the Southern Resident population has declined to an alarming 75 whales.

Crewser, a 23-year-old male, was easily recognizable by his distinctive dorsal fin even from a distance, said Rachael Merrett, the species protection co-ordinator with the Georgia Strait Alliance.

It dipped forward just a bit into a “little wave,” she said.

His loss may be felt on a deeply emotional and psychological level. Scientists have noticed behavioural changes in whales after they experience loss, Merrett said.

It’s “a devastating blow to the entire pod … they do develop very close bonds to each other,” she said.

Crewser dealt with his own loss when he was about seven years old with the death of his mother. In 2002, she washed up in Washington with signs of blunt force trauma, Merrett said, and the mystery of her death was never solved.

After she passed away, Crewser began travelling with his aunt Ballena, his only remaining family member.

It is unlikely that Crewser, who should have had 20 to 30 years more to live, would have sired any offspring of his own, according to Misty MacDuffee, a biologist and program director with the Raincoast Conservation Foundation.

It’s mainly the older males who breed, she explained, so Crewser was just coming up to his reproductive years and could have contributed to the pod’s genetic diversity.

“It’s very concerning when we have the loss of what should be healthy, reproductive animals,” she said.

With the population at a critical level, “every loss is catastrophic,” said Christianne Wilhelmson, the Georgia Strait Alliance’s executive director.

“How many more do we have to lose before we get to urgent action?” she questioned Friday afternoon, after a morning press conference where Transport Canada Minister Marc Garneau spoke to measures his government is taking to help protect the endangered whales.

The measures are part of the government’s $167-million whales initiative to protect the Southern Resident killer whales, North Atlantic right whale, and the St. Lawrence Estuary beluga whale.

“It’s clear that we must take immediate action to help these whales by addressing the three main threats they are facing,” Garneau said.

Those threats are food availability, noise and pollution.

On the B.C. coast, steps include a new requirement for marine vessels, including recreational boats, to keep at least 200 metres away from killer whales, fishery closures in areas where whales forage for food, limits on the total Chinook commercial fishery, and increased funding for research, monitoring and enforcement.

The government will also be working with BC Ferries to develop a noise-management plan and is asking marine vessels to slow down in the Haro Strait.

But it won’t be enough to help the declining whale population recover, said MacDuffee.

Both MacDuffee and Wilhelmson said as a start they’d like to see the foraging areas closed to all boats, including commercial whale-watching boats not just fishing boats.

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“You have to allow these animals to feed,” Wilhelmson said.

At 75 members, the population is lower than it’s been in a few decades, she said. When the population fought to recover from its last dangerous dip, it had fewer environmental concerns to deal with. Back then, there was more food and less noise.

The situation is “urgent,” she said. “We need adequate threat-reduction measures, and that’s what we’re not seeing.”

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