Staggered openings would protect whales, too
It is both good and essential that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is imposing drastic measures to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whales that are teetering on the brink of extinction.
Those whales need to be protected. Mankind owes the species that much.
They were easy prey and they were overfished decades ago and, because of ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear, the population never had a chance to recover.
Protective measures impact fisheries and also shipping companies, as container ships must slow down while travelling through the Gulf of St. Lawrence, thereby reducing the risk of colliding with one of those large whales. And time is money.
It becomes collateral damage that those measures are negatively impacting on the livelihoods of East Coast fishermen and shipping companies. Those measures, however, just might be what are necessary to protect the fishery from financial ruin. If such drastic measures weren’t imposed and right whales perished at or near last year’s unprecedented rate, then ramifications to the fishing industry would be immense. Seafood from a country that does not take drastic steps to protect the endangered right whales would suddenly seem less appetizing.
The fishing industry, the snow crab industry in particular, has made several gear modifications to reduce the risk of whale entanglements, and DFO is closing areas to fishing activity when whales are known to be present.
So, when one or more grids are closed to fishing, the boats that would normally be fishing there, are forced to move somewhere else, piling gear in among other fishermen’s gear. It puts the fishing industry under increased pressure but, at least, the industry is demonstrating to a watching world that sacrifices are being made, willingly or otherwise, to give the remaining whales a fighting chance.
The snow crab fishery did, however, get unnecessarily hampered by a closure that went into force before any whales were known to be back in the gulf. As well, some fishermen, including those in P.E.I. and parts of New Brunswick, were unnecessarily held back this spring because of ice that was keeping fishermen from northern New Brunswick in port.
The fishery is controlled by boat quotas. Island boats might have had their quota almost caught before the whales arrived if they did not have to wait for northern New Brunswick. It would have helped spread the fishery out.
P.E.I. fishermen are less impacted by current closures than their counterparts in New Brunswick and Quebec, but it is likely just a matter of time before the whales move onto their fishing grounds, too. If the Department of Fisheries and Oceans can close certain areas when whales are present, then it should be able to open certain areas early in the spring when ice conditions permit. Even that would have proved beneficial for the endangered whales.
Some fishermen might have been watching from shore, but only for a while and they’d have more room to maneuver once they got out and early boats were off the water.