The federal government has announced more than 12-million dollars in funding to help protect the iconic southern resident killer whales off the B-C coast. Fisheries and Oceans Minister Dominic LeBlanc says 9.1-million will go towards developing and testing technologies that alert vessels to the presence of whales in an effort to lower the risk of collisions. Another 3.1-million will go to four research projects that among other things will examine how the whales have been affected by changes in the supply and quality of chinook salmon and on how they’re being impacted by environmental stressors, particularly noise and limits on prey. There are only 76 southern resident killer whales left and several conservation groups warn the orcas face extinction if the federal government doesn’t issue an emergency order reducing threats to them ahead of fishing and whale-watching season.