FINAL Orca Recovery Plan comment letter

February 25, 2007 Ms. Lynne M. Barre and Mr. J. Brent Norberg National Marine Fishers Service, Northwest Regional Office Protected Resources Division 7600 Sand Point Way NE Seattle WA 98115 Re: Comments to Proposed Recovery Plan for Southern Resident Killer Whales Dear Ms. Barre and Mr. Norberg: On behalf of Friends of the San Juans (“Friends”), please accept the following comments to the Proposed Recovery Plan for Southern Resident Killer Whales (the “Proposed Plan”). As you may be aware, Friends was a co-petitioner to list the Southern Resident Killer Whales (the “Orcas”) on the Endangered Species List. Orcas spend at least half of each year feeding and frolicking in the San Juan Island waters, including the most critical portion of their annual lifecycle. Maintaining the health and biodiversity of the Islands’ marine ecosystem is crucial to Orcas’ short and long-term survival. Friends believes that the Proposed Plan should rely on the precautionary principle to enact regulations to protect Orcas, and accordingly offers its comments on the Proposed Plan to ensure Orcas’ full and speedy recovery. General Comments As you are aware, in developing a recovery plan under §4(f) of the Endangered Species Act, the Secretary of Commerce, here through the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), must, to the maximum extent practicable, develop a conservation and survival plan that gives priority to those endangered species “that are, or may ...