The real peril for whales
The federal government is making a lot of the right noises in promising to do all it can to prevent more deaths among right whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc vowed last week to bring “absolutely every protection to bear” to safeguard this rare and precious species.
Yet at the same time, the government is undermining its own good intentions by opening the way for what scientists and environmentalists fear could be an even more devastating blow to the whales and to hundreds of other species of marine wildlife that live in the gulf.
Barely six weeks ago, the government released regulations that would allow exploration for oil and gas in most of an area that has been designated as a marine protection area in the Laurentian Channel, where the gulf meets the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a key migratory pathway for whales and other endangered species.
And this year, Ottawa extended an oil and gas exploration licence granted to Corridor Resources Inc. of Halifax, keeping alive the possibility that the gulf could be opened up to offshore drilling.
Of course, the deaths of10 right whales in recent weeks can’t be blamed on oil and gas exploration that hasn’t yet happened. Scientists aren’t sure why so many of the whales have been found dead, but it appears that some were hit by ships and others were tangled up in fishing gear.
There are only about 525 of these whales in the entire world, so finding 10 of them dead in such a short period has set off alarms for those who care about the species’ survival.
LeBlanc promises to gather more information and his department has already taken steps to minimize the chance that fishing boats will collide with whales. It is also asking ship operators to reduce the speed of their vessels in parts of the gulf where whales are frequently sighted, and may reroute shipping lanes away from their feeding grounds.
Those are all positive steps to minimize losses among a vulnerable population of animals that can grow up to 18 metres long. A similar program to save right whales in the Bay of Fundy successfully reduced deaths there a number of years ago.
At the same time, though, Ottawa is easing the way as pressure builds to open the gulf to oil and gas exploration — a move that would disrupt marine life of all kinds and inevitably lead to more shipping activity, further putting the whales at risk.
This is a very bad idea. The Gulf of St. Lawrence is the world’s biggest estuary, touching on five provinces and providing habitat for 2,000 marine species.
It’s a semi-enclosed area, meaning the damage from any spill would not easily dissipate, fouling the water and shores for years on end. That would be a disaster for lucrative lobster, crab and other fisheries, and for the region’s tourism industry.
And even short of a spill, the seismic method used to explore for oil and gas carries its own risks. It would involve sending sound waves into layers of underwater rock to determine the best spot for drilling. Scientists warn that can seriously disrupt fish and marine mammals.
The Harper government opened the door for possible offshore drilling in the gulf in its 2012 budget, which included a measure that underlined the area’s energy potential and made it easier for oil companies to explore for petroleum resources.
The Trudeau government has let the process continue by permitting exploration in most of the new marine protection area and allowing a federal-provincial regulator, the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board, to extend the exploration licence for Coastal Resources for a further four years.
It’s not clear when or if actual exploration might start, but the potential is there: the federal government estimates the gulf basin contains as much as 39 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 1.5 billion barrels of oil.
Ottawa should put an end to this. It should follow the example of Quebec, which recently cancelled plans for oil and gas exploration on Anticosti Island in the gulf.
It’s all very well for LeBlanc to talk about protecting right whales from immediate harm. It would be far more effective to remove the possibility of inflicting permanent damage on the ecosystem they depend on for their very existence.