A Campaign Director with Oceana Canada says at least 10 North Atlantic right whales have died in the last year.
Late last week the federal government announced new measures to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale. According to Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan the changes are needed because the whales’ migration patterns in Canadian waters have become difficult to predict.
#BREAKING: The Canadian government just announced new 2020 measures to protect North Atlantic right whales. While Oceana Canada is encouraged by the direction of the new measures, more needs to be done to save right whales from extinction. https://t.co/oIVWlYuO1G pic.twitter.com/IjHIggy1zd
— Oceana Canada (@OceanaCAN) February 27, 2020
Kim Elmslie says they know of at least 10 right whales that died, and early in the season another newborn calf was struck by a vessel and hasn’t been seen since. She says they can only assume the worst.
Just last week, they were alerted to another bad entanglement about a whale named “Dragon”.
Elmslie says Dragon has a fishing buoy wrapped around her and stuck in her mouth, not allowing her to feed for a long time, and she’s slowly perishing.
More bad news for North Atlantic right whales. #RightWhaletoSave https://t.co/xEvTkAah5R
— Oceana Canada (@OceanaCAN) March 1, 2020
She claims the challenge is that although there are some 400 right whales left, less than 100 of them are breeding females while another one is perishing right now.
Elmslie says another year like this is unsustainable.
They want to see government put a plan B in place. She says right now, the Cabot Strait area where right whales enter and exit the Gulf of St. Lawrence is a “voluntary speed restriction area”.
She says they’ve asked government to pull together stakeholders like scientists, the fishing industry and shipping industry to have a discussion about how far they can take things. Elmslie says for example, they need to possibly take the next step in making the Cabot Strait a mandatory speed restriction area.