Question Period Note: Entanglement Rates for Blue and Fin Whales

• The Department is committed to protecting all whale species, and in particular those listed as at risk under the Species At Risk Act. We have provided research funding over the past several years to better understand entanglement risks to large whales, including blue whales and fin whales, and to inform our management measures.
• Our right whale measures benefit multiple species, including area closures to fisheries and our work with industry to test and implement weak points in rope to help whales break free of entanglements.
• As of 2020, all fixed gear fisheries in Atlantic Canada and Quebec are also required to be marked to identify the origin of the gear, with information on the region, fishery and country to inform our efforts to prevent entanglements.
• We have also made substantial investments to our Marine Mammal Response Program to support safe and timely response to incidents, such as large whale entanglements.

• In February 11 and 12, 2020 the Department held the Gear Innovation Summit in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was the first of its kind in Canada. The purpose was to explore current and emerging whale safe technologies and strategies as well as current and emergent technologies, strategies and programmatic interventions designed to reduce and/or mitigate the risk of abandoned, lost, discarded fishing gear (ALDFG).
• The Summit brought together approximately 250 harvesters, industry representatives, fishing gear developers and manufacturers, scientists, NGOs, marine mammal responders and government officials, from Canada, the United States, and Europe.
• By design, the summit revolved around ideas, perspectives and lessons learned from innovation, trials and lived experiences and raising awareness, and exploring the art of the possible at the intersection of robust fisheries, whale safety, and the environment.
• Throughout 2020, the Department worked with industry, to identify gear solutions for alleviating injury to right whales. Future gear modifications that are being considered include: requirements for maximum rope diameters of 5/8 inches, sinking rope between pots and traps, and reductions in vertical and floating rope.
• The Marine Mammal Response Program (MMRP) works with partners to track and respond to marine mammal entanglements, strandings (dead and live), ship strikes, and other threats; quantify threats affecting marine mammal species, with a special focus on species assessed as at risk; provide data and information to support Species at Risk recovery planning initiatives, mitigation options, and policy development.
• The Department is working with marine mammal response partners to ensure there is long-term capacity to respond to marine mammal incidents, such as disentanglements, and to develop capacity within Indigenous communities to provide response activities under the program.
• With increased funding, we were able to address gaps in national coordination, consistent service delivery, standardized protocols, central data collection, sharing of best practices, and technological innovations.

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