Another right whale has been spotted entangled in fishing gear in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, making it at least the fifth whale of the “endangered” species to be seen this way this year.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) announced Wednesday that a male right whale well known to scientists, named “Neptune,” was spotted in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence on August 3.
It is not yet known what type of fishing gear the animal is entangled in, but DFO promised in an email to the media that it will monitor the situation, “to determine intervention options with our partners. If the whale is found and weather and sea conditions permit, efforts will be made to try to free it.”
This is the fifth case of a right whale entanglement reported in the Gulf of St. Lawrence this year. In July, a young whale was spotted and then released in the St. Lawrence Estuary. On July 27, 2024, another whale was spotted among a group of right whales east of Miscou Island, New Brunswick, by a departmental scientific team during a routine flight. It has not been released to date.
Mortality
The North Atlantic right whale is considered “endangered” under Canada’s Species at Risk Act. Increasingly present in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, especially in summer, this species spends the winter season along the American east coast, mainly in the southern part of this region.
Their feeding, migration and calving habitats are therefore in areas of intense human activity. Interestingly, virtually all females that gave birth during the 2023-2024 season have already been the victims of more than one entanglement, according to data from the New England Aquarium. One of these females has even been entangled eight times in her life.
The species numbers about 360 individuals at most, including fewer than 100 females of breeding age. And following the most recent birthing season, five of the 19 new calves have already died.
Protection efforts had, however, allowed the population to increase to around 500 individuals in 2010. However, the situation has worsened, particularly due to exceptional mortality. In 2017, no fewer than 17 adult right whales were found dead, including 12 in Canadian waters.
It was following these deaths that the federal government implemented measures to protect the species in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In addition to speed limits that can be imposed on ships, fishing areas can be closed in the event of the presence of right whales.
Beyond the possibility of preventing the disappearance of the right whale, which has been in sharp decline for several years, these measures are also necessary to protect access to a vital American market for Canadian fishermen, particularly that of snow crab and lobster.
The deaths of right whales threaten the livelihoods of many fishermen. The American Marine Mammal Protection Act requires the fishing industry, in the United States and elsewhere, to demonstrate that its activities do not endanger marine mammals. If this demonstration is not made, the Americans have the right to “ban imports” of fishery products. However, such a scenario could be disastrous for fishermen in Quebec and the Maritimes.