New measures aim to protect right whales
Ottawa has announced new measures aimed at reducing risks to the endangered North Atlantic right whale, including season-long fishing closures in parts of the Gulf of St. Lawrence where whales frequent.
Estimates place the global population of North Atlantic right whales at a little more than 400. DFO scientists estimate between 174 and 204 of the whales – close to one-half of the species’ population — were in the Gulf in 2018 and 2019.
On Thursday in Ottawa, Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan and Transport Minister Marc Garneau announced new measures to help keep the marine animals from becoming further endangered.
“We need to continue using a wide variety of tools and adapt quickly to (the whales’) changing behaviour,” Jordan said in a technical briefing with reporters Thursday morning.
The measures aim to do two things: prevent whale entanglements in fishing gear and prevent collisions between whales and vessels.
As well as the fishing closure in parts of the gulf, DFO plans to expand temporary fishing closure areas into the Bay of Fundy, and implement new markings to identify origin of gear in the event of an entanglement.
Transport Canada is bringing back the mandatory speed limit to 10 knots in the western Gulf of St. Lawrence and will continue to allow vessels to travel at safe operational speeds in parts of the shipping lanes north and south of Anticosti Island when no whales are detected in the area.
A remotely piloted aircraft system (drone and an underwater acoustic glider) will be incorporated into the federal government’s whale surveillance activities this year.
Happening almost in tandem with the measures to protect the whales, the federal government also awarded a $596,736 contract this week with G X Technology Canada to provide private ice-breaking services in the Acadian Peninsula, Bay of Chaleur and Northumberland Strait. Together with Canadian Coast Guard ice breakers, the move is intended to help crab fishermen get on the water earlier, before whales start returning to the gulf.
Carter Hutt, president of the P.E.I. Snow Crab Fisherman’s Association, has mixed reviews on the measures. He’s pleased with the efforts to get the boats on the water earlier but worries about the impact of season-long closures in some areas once whales arrive.
Hutt said reports are suggesting ice conditions in the gulf are not as severe as last year.
“It seems like we’re open for a little while, but whenever the whales show up, they are going to start closing the grids and if there are multiple whales, they’re going to be closed until November,” he said. “At least we’re going to get to fish some of it for a little while. That’s the good part of it, I guess.”
DFO will also work with the fishing industry on other gear modifications on a phased-in basis starting in 2021. In addition, it will authorize ropeless gear trials.