Species could be extinct in next 30 years

Right whale researchers meet in Halifax to sound alarm

Their names were Glacier, Starboard and Peanut.

The colourfully named mammals were among 15 North Atlantic right whales who died off the coast of Canada and the U.S. in recent months.

To the community of researchers, rescuers and others gathered in Halifax for the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium’s annual meeting, each of the 15 whales who died off the coast of Canada and the U.S. in recent months was mourned both as an individual loss as well as a dire blow to the endangered species’ survival.

Tonya Wimmer of the Marine Animal Response Society became overwhelmed with emotion as she recalled recovering several bloated whale carcasses in Canada’s eastern waters this summer.

“I’m going to take you through those animals, not only on the human side, but on the animal side, because they aren’t just numbers,” Tonya Wimmer told the hundreds of people gathered at St. Mary’s University. “I think it’s really important to see the context of who and what we were dealing with.”

The spate of right whale deaths cast a shadow over Sunday’s gathering, which is normally closed to the media, but was opened up due to public interest.

Presenters spoke with a renewed sense of urgency to protect the 450 right whales still alive as of 2016, according to the latest population estimate, which does not account for this year’s losses.

Scott Kraus of the New England Aquarium in Boston said in an interview that the death toll since spring could be higher than the official count, and combined with dwindling birth rates, the species is at risk of extinction.

“We’ve got to do something, because the trajectory of the decline is such that this population could be gone in two to three decades,” Kraus said.

Many of the whale deaths have been attributed to vessel strikes and getting tangled in fishing gear.

The Canadian government has taken steps to reduce the risk to right whales by bringing in measures including reducing the speed limit in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and shutting down a snow crab fishery.