After being on the verge of extinction due to centuries of hunting, Atlantic right whales are now threatened with extinction due to shipping and commercial fishing. A documentary filmmaker has therefore set herself the task of making this species better known, a symbol of our relationship, which is problematic to say the least, with the marine environment.
“We live, for the most part, in urban centers where we are disconnected from the forests. And it’s worse when we talk about the oceans. Many have never had the opportunity to be in these natural environments or to see whales, while there are several species in Canadian waters. People therefore misunderstand the role we play in these ecosystems,” summarizes Nadine Pequeneza, director of The Last Of the Right Whales (“The Last Right Whales”).
With this documentary, which is presented in theaters these days in Quebec, Montreal and Sherbrooke, she has chosen to shine the spotlight on a species that perfectly illustrates the issues of conservation of increasingly threatened marine ecosystems: the right whale. of the North Atlantic.
“In 2017, we lost 17 right whales, which was a huge loss for this species, which then numbered less than 400 individuals,” recalls Ms. Pequeneza. No less than 12 of the deaths took place in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. “The media coverage caught my attention, because I had never heard of this species before this episode of record mortalities. I was shocked to learn that human activity in the oceans, including commercial shipping and the fishing industry, could be responsible for the disappearance of a species that has existed for millions of years. »
The right whale, which can measure more than 15 meters and weigh more than 50 tons, was hunted extensively in Canadian waters and along the American east coast, starting with the Basques as early as the 16th century, before being considered as if it had all but disappeared. But a few dozen spared individuals enabled this cetacean to survive, before being rediscovered by American scientists who studied it in the second half of the 20th century.
Some of these pioneers, including Charles Mayo, point out in the documentary that the rate of global warming is such that the species simply cannot keep pace and adapt. And it is these rapid changes that would have pushed a large part of the right whale population to leave the traditional feeding areas, namely the bays of Cape Cod and Fundy, to go to the Gulf of St. Lawrence in summer.
entanglements
Long before the upheavals in the climate, it was collisions with ships and entanglements in fishing gear that threatened the species more than ever. No less than 80% of adult whales in this population of approximately 340 individuals bear signs of entanglement. The documentary filmmaker’s team filmed one of these entanglements, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 2021. “It’s the most difficult thing I’ve been able to film”, drops Nadine Pequeneza.
At the other end of the spectrum, the team, which filmed right whales from the Magdalen Islands to Florida over a period of nearly three years, was able to capture images of a mother and her calf a few weeks after birth. This female, named “Snow Cone” (all right whales are known to researchers), however, lost her young a few weeks later. He was hit twice by boats before succumbing.
The species, which shows a serious decline and a decline in births, nevertheless benefits from uncommon protection measures for a cetacean. In both the United States and Canada, Pequeneza points out, governments have implemented lobster fishing area closures to reduce entanglements, as well as vessel speed limits in certain areas.
These measures also provoke anger among several fishermen, particularly in the state of Maine, as can be seen in the documentary Entangledby American journalist David Abel, released in 2020. This film, which exposes the challenges of the coexistence between the protection of marine species and the maintenance of a vital fishing industry for several communities, also completes the message that Nadine Pequeneza wishes to transmit with The Last of the Right Whales.
“I hope that people who see the film, and therefore see the whales giving birth, socializing and feeding, will understand the responsibility we have for the oceans. There is a whole life under the surface and it is important to understand it better,” she concludes.