Prey Increase Program for Southern Resident Killer Whales

NOAA Fisheries announces the availability for public review of NOAA’s final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for the expenditure of funds to increase prey availability for Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW). We are conducting this programmatic review consistent with a recent court order that found NOAA Fisheries did not adequately evaluate the current releases of hatchery fish as prey (food) for SRKWs at a larger, more programmatic scale.

Prey (food) availability is a factor limiting the recovery of endangered SRKW, and this program is intended to boost the amount of prey available to them in marine waters.

Four alternatives were evaluated in the final PEIS, including: eliminating the funding of this program, a hatchery production alternative, a habitat restoration-based alternative, and a salmon fishing reduction alternative. The effects of these alternatives are presented in this final PEIS. We invite the public to review the alternatives and our responses to their comments submitted on the draft document earlier this year. The deadline for public review is November 4, 2024.

Current Opportunity for Public Review

The public is invited to review the final PEIS, including our responses to their comments submitted on the draft PEIS.

After the close of this public review period, NOAA will issue a Record of Decision (ROD) that will document our decision selecting an alternative for implementation.

For further information or if you have any questions, please contact the project manager at: phone: (541) 802-3728, or email: hatcheries.public.comment@noaa.gov.

Previous Public Comment Opportunities

The public scoping opportunities for the prey increase program occurred last year. Two public meetings were held (August 30 and 31) online to learn more about this project and to answer any questions about how to provide input to NOAA Fisheries.

A draft PEIS was made available in January 2024, and public review and comment was invited.

We considered all of the scoping comments received in the preparation of the draft EIS and the final PEIS.

More Information

Additional resources about the prey increase program and other SRKWs and salmon information can be found in our feature story on this topic.

Read more about Southern Resident Killer Whales.