b'and improvement projects at their terminals and says that,toxic contaminants, and disturbance from vessel noise and to date, they have removed over 13,000 tons of creosote,traffic. It also directly ordered WSF to develop strategies replacing it with materials such as steel and concrete.for quieting state ferries in areas most important to Southern Residents. One of the steps that WSF took to this end was to The companys goal is to provide treatment for stormwaterserve as a founding member of Quiet Sound which is a collab-runoff at and to remove creosote from all their facilities.orative program of ports, government, industry, and others with the goal of voluntarily reducing underwater noise from INCREASING BIODIVERSITY large commercial vessels in Puget Sound.Keeping the waterways that WSF operates in clean is key to maintaining the health of aquatic life which is an importantWSF vessels will not approach SRKWs within 1,000 yards part of Washingtons culture and economy. This includesand will not position themselves to be in the path of or be-not only shellfish, salmon, and forage fish, but also orcas,hind SRKWs within that same distance. When a vessel is specificallySouthernResidentkillerwhales(SRKWs).within 1,000 yards of an SRKW it will slow to seven knots These are a distinct population of fish-eating orcas whichand if a vessel is within 400 yards the vessel transmission live along the coast in the Pacific Northwest and are consid- will be disengaged. These measures lead to noise reduction ered endangered with fewer than 80 members in the wild.which benefits not only SRKWs, but also gray whale and humpback whale populations. In 2018, Governor Inslee signed Executive Order 18-02 which created a task force that focuses on solutions to three mainThe team also helped to bring the Whale Report Alert Sys-threats to the SRKW population including prey availability,tem (WRAS) to Puget Sound and has worked to increase PHOTO: WASHINGTON STATE FERRIES25 APRIL 2024'