Ottawa announces four new measures in effort to protect right whales

The federal fisheries minister has imposed new measures aimed at protecting North Atlantic right whales from entanglement with fishing gear.

“Protecting Canada’s endangered whales from further harm is a responsibility that weighs heavily on all of us,’’ Dominic LeBlanc said Tuesday in Moncton.

Some of the 17 confirmed right whale deaths in Canada and the United States last year were the result of fishing gear entanglements.

There are roughly 450 right whales left in the world, and that number is declining.

LeBlanc said four new rules for the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence snow crab fishery will greatly reduce the amount of rope that can be left floating on the surface when crab pots are set — to no more than 3.7 metres.

“In addition, no rope attaching a crab trap to a primary buoy can remain floating on the surface of the water after the crab trap has been set,’’ he said.

“We will be requiring them to add metal weights to portions of the rope to ensure that the rope is, in fact, vertical in the water and doesn’t float on the surface. In the past, metres and metres of rope had been allowed to float on the surface,’’ he said.

Other new rules will require rope and gear to be colourcoded, based on the area where they are used, and each piece of equipment must have serial numbers to identify the owner. Any lost gear must be reported, along with its last GPS location.