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The North Atlantic right whale population is showing some encouraging signs in Canadian waters this year, but federal officials say strict protections like fishing area closures remain essential.
Every year, Fisheries and Oceans Canada monitors key marine regions, including waters around Prince Edward Island and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, for right whales.
When one is detected, it can trigger temporary closures of nearby fishing areas in the name of conservation.
“This year has been a relatively positive year,” Brett Gilchrist of DFO told Island Morning host Wayne Thibodeau.
“We have had a lot of detections of right whales this year. We’ve had upwards of 680 visual detections of right whales and over 2,000 acoustic detections.”
Right whales, one of the most endangered large whale species in the world, usually begin arriving in Canadian waters in April and May.
Gilchrist said the overall population appears to have levelled off after years of decline.
“The decline seems to have been halted,” he said, noting the population is now estimated at around 384 whales, including 70 breeding females.
“It’s certainly not skyrocketing at this point. So we do need to continue to apply measures and work with fish harvesters to ensure this population recovers.”
This year also brought upwards of 23 calves.
“It’s been a very good calving year. So if this trend continues over the next 10 years, it will be in good shape,” Gilchrist said, adding that in some past years, there were zero calves.
A North Atlantic right whale showing white scars from entanglement around its tail. (Submitted by Gina Lonati)
The species remains vulnerable, particularly to entanglement in fishing gear.
Gilchrist said one entangled whale has been spotted this year in Canadian waters, in or around the Shediac Valley area of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Officials do not yet know where the gear on that whale came from.
DFO’s Marine Mammal Response Program focuses on locating and tracking entangled whales, attempting to remove gear and then analyzing it to determine its origin.
Canada and the United States both use gear marking schemes — colour-coding on vertical lines used in pot and trap fisheries — to trace where entangling gear came from.
Detection efforts now also rely on acoustic technology, including stationary Viking buoys and mobile gliders that listen for whale calls and can distinguish between species.
“In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, a single detection of a right whale or an acoustic detection, a visual detection, leads to a 15-day closure,” Gilchrist said.
“An area of upwards of 2,000 square kilometres is closed around that whale because that whale can move hundreds of kilometres in a day.”
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He said there may be frustration among fish harvesters who would like to see the closures narrowed to reduce their impact on the fishery.
But with such a small and endangered population of right whales, Gilchrist said “a single right whale mortality can significantly impact the population,” especially if it involves a breeding female.
“It can also significantly impact Canadian seafood exports and our ability to get sustainable seafood certification.”
Gilchrist said right whales typically begin heading south again around October and November, leaving the Gulf and moving past southern Nova Scotia toward their calving grounds in the southern United States.
Until their numbers improve significantly, he said, Canada will continue to apply protective measures and work with harvesters to reduce risks to the whales while allowing fishing to continue where possible.