We the undersigned believe that the west side of San Juan Island should be left open to private and commercial kayakers. Kayaking is a quiet, non invasive, environmentally friendly sport and the west side of San Juan Island provides a perfect forum to educate people on the health of the Puget Sound. Humans have been paddling these waters for thousands of years.
Besides using their eyes, the resident orcas use echo location to know when we are present. We present no threat to the orca population and there is no science supporting that kayakers affect the whales negatively.
We are happy to follow guidelines when the orcas are present but to close it off completely to kayaking along the coastline is unreasonable, unsafe and damaging to our local economy because kayaking brings in 10 million dollars to San Juan Island annually and for a small town that is a lot of money.
So we are asking that you change the proposal to allow kayaking along the west side of San Juan Island. Kayaking is good for nature and good for people.
Thank you
