Public comment on NOAA's endangered insular false killer whale draft recovery plan

On October 16, 2020 the National Marine Fisheries Service Protected Resources Division (Pacific Islands Regional Center) released drafts of the endangered main Hawaiian Islands insular false killer whale Recovery Plan and Recovery Implementation Strategy (as well as an updated Recovery Status Review) and opened a public comment period on the Federal Register (visit this link for more details). Among Cascadia’s highest priorities is providing government agencies in charge of reducing disturbance and impacts on marine mammal populations relevant information from our research, as well as comments on proposed government actions and documents as they relate to our research (and others). In response to the documents detailing recovery plans for the endangered Hawaiian false killer whales - the Hawaii office’s highest priority population - myself and others at Cascadia submitted public comments and suggestions that we believe would better meet the conservation goals for this population. A copy of our comments are available here, and you can learn more about false killer whales in Hawaii here.