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The federal government refused to make an emergency order under the Species at Risk Act that would further protect endangered killer whales off the coast of British Columbia.
An Order in Council released on Thursday indicates that the government has already taken a number of steps to ensure the recovery of southern resident killer whales.
Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Friday in a statement that the government "carefully weighed different options" to protect whales and that he did not think that an emergency ordinance would be helpful .
"Only a tool"
"An emergency ordinance does not contain measures per se, it's simply a tool that governments can use as an implementation mechanism," he said.
Wilkinson said Wednesday the government announced new measures to ensure that when whales return to the waters in greater numbers in the spring, they have cleaner water for swimming, more chinook salmon to eat, and more quiet where to go home.
The government is also considering working with the United States to harmonize shipping regulations, he said.
An emergency ordinance could help: environmentalists
However, Misty MacDuffee, conservation biologist at the Raincoast Conservation Foundation in British Columbia, said the emergency ordinance would have allowed the government to do certain things for which it has no law neither power.
Five conservation groups, represented by the environmental law group Ecojustice, were badociated to launch a lawsuit aimed at protecting whales threatened with extinction in September.
In a statement, the groups say they are "deeply disappointed" by the cabinet's refusal of what they consider to be the best tool to help with whale recovery.
The designation would have allowed the government to cut red tape and provide many protections for species at risk, he added.
With only 74 animals left, southern resident killer whales are in crisis, they said.
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