Orca Whale Watching Laws
As of 2025, there are new whale watching laws you should know
Protect the Southern Resident Orcas
Our southern resident orca whales are a wonderful part of the local family. But they are having a difficult time surviving due to declining salmon runs. These whales use echo location to find and catch their food, and noise pollution from boats and ships makes it harder for them to thrive. In an effort to decrease human impact both the Canadian and US governments have implemented new rules.
When sailing in Washington State
In an effort to reduce boat-related noise, which negatively affects the southern resident orca’s salmon foraging behavior and success, Washington State made some rule changes, effective January 1, 2025. Vessels are not allowed to approach within, or intentionally position themselves to become within, 1000 yards of a southern resident orca.
If you find yourself inadvertently within 1000 yards of a southern resident orca, you must reduce speed to less than 7 knots and proceed as directly as possible to a distance that is more than 1000 yards away. However, if you find yourself inadvertently within 400 yards of a southern resident orca, you must disengage your transmission and wait for the orca to move away.
Exceptions will be made where safety or rules of navigation do not allow compliance. Since most of us would not be able to distinguish a southern resident orca from a Biggs orca at any distance, let alone 1000 yards, please assume any orca you see is a southern resident.
When sailing in British Columbia
In Canada they have gone a step further by creating some zones where boats are not allowed to further improve the environment for whales. Those zones are red on this diagram (top).
And here is an example of what they look like on Windwaker's chart plotter (bottom diagram). The red lines have been added to help point out the dashed lines, which are what you will see on the plotter. Note this zone is just to the west of Bedwell Harbour, so on your way in or out of there be sure to avoid this area.
