Oceana Canada says its encouraged by new protection measures put in place to help protect the North Atlantic right whale population, but more needs to be done to help save the species from extinction.
Campaign Director Kim Elmslie was responding to federal measures announced this week by Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan and Transport Minister Marc Garneau.
North Atlantic right whales feed and rest near the surface, making them prone to ship strikes especially in the busy Gulf of St. Lawrence shipping lanes.
Elmslie says among the new measures is a voluntary speed reduction to 10 knots for large vessels in the Cabot Strait.
That she says, is the route all right whales take to enter to leave the Gulf of St. Lawrence and she’s disappointed it was not made mandatory.
A rare North Atlantic right whale sighting in Newfoundland waters occurred last summer off the Bonavista Peninsula.