Question Period Note: North Atlantic right whale

Why isn’t this Government doing more to protect the North Atlantic Right Whale?

• Budget 2023 includes $151.9 million over three years, starting in 2023-24, to continue Canada’s efforts to protect endangered whales and their habitats, including North Atlantic right whales.
• We prioritize entanglement preventive measures through surveillance, the closure of targeted fishing areas, ghost gear retrieval, and collaboration with other Government organizations to prevent vessel strikes.
• We will continue to work with harvesters and experts to develop a made-in-Canada approach on whale-safe fishing gear, including a path forward on rope-on-demand fishing gear.

• In April 2023, the Minister announced the 2023 North Atlantic Right Whale (NARW) fisheries management measures. Fisheries and Ocean’s (DFO) measures remain unchanged from 2022. The measures for 2022 took effect in the Gulf of St. Lawrence at the opening of the Gulf crab fishery (April 11).
• In 2023 DFO continues to apply adaptive measures to preventing fishing gear entanglements, such as: changes to the open and closure dates of fisheries; Season-long closure protocol (Nov 15) in the Gulf of St. Lawrence; Dynamic closure protocol in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Bay of Fundy, and critical habitat areas (Grand Manan Basin and Roseway Basin); case by case measures to address sightings of 3 whale or more aggregations or a mother and calf anywhere in Atlantic Canada and Quebec that is not subject to temporary closure areas and critical habitat; maintaining targeted provisions for waters shallower than 20 fathoms (36.5 metres or 120 feet); focused surveillance using acoustic underwater technology (hydrophones), aircraft and vessels to confirm the presence of whales; continued ghost gear retrieval; and collaborating with Transport Canada and the Canadian Coast Guard to address the potential threats from vessel strikes.
• Also in April, the Minister announced the development of a national WhaleSafe Gear Strategy to guide the implementation of low-strength, on-demand fishing gear systems to address the risk of whale entanglement.
• In January 2023, three NARW were disentangled by marine mammal response experts in the United States. Gear was successfully removed from EG 1218 and EG 3812, and partially removed from EG 4545.
o Gear removed from EG 1218 (Argo) originated from Lobster Fishing Area 33 off the southern coast of Nova Scotia. This is the first North Atlantic right whale entanglement confirmed to be connected to Canada’s lobster fishery in over five years.
o In this particular case, the harvester had reported their lost fishing gear to DFO as is required by their conditions of licence.
o Gear on EG 3812 (Nimbus) and EG 4545 were determined to have originated from Crab Fishing Area 12. Prior to the entanglements, both Nimbus and #4545 were last observed swimming gear-free in the summer of 2022 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, after the closure of the Gulf crab fishery, which suggests the whales were entangled in ghost fishing gear.
• There were no reported NARW mortalities and 4 new entanglements (first sighting and gear present) observed in Canadian waters in 2022.
• The Annual NARW Advisory Committee meeting was held on November 22, 2022 followed by a targeted meeting with Indigenous groups on November 25, 2022.
• Closure statistics from 2022, as of November 15, 2022:
o 55,229 km2 total cumulative closure area
o 29,267 km2 in total seasonal closures
• As of November 15, 2022, there were 1,173 recorded detections of right whales in Canadian waters. Of these detections 136 individual whales have been identified.
• On October 25, 2022 the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium released the most recent population estimate of 340 whales, which indicates a slowing in decline.
• In 2021, the Department launched the Whalesafe Gear Adoption Fund, a two-year $20 million contribution program to support the purchase, adoption, testing and manufacture of whalesafe fishing gear, including lower breaking strength modifications and ropeless/rope on demand systems. This program supports 34 projects across Quebec and Atlantic Canada.
• Since 2018, DFO has invested over $5.7 million to further enhance the Marine Mammal Response Program, which responds to marine mammals in distress, including disentanglement of NARWs. This funding is part of the $167.4 million Whales Initiative in Budget 2018.
• The NARW was listed as Endangered in the Species at Risk Act (SARA) in 2005. It is predicted the species could become extinct in 30 years if the mortality rate is not significantly reduced. The population is in decline with an estimated 340 individuals, including less than 80 fertile females.

If pressed on economic impacts on harvesters
• The Department works closely with Indigenous and non-Indigenous harvesters, other partners and stakeholders to implement management measures that protect endangered North Atlantic right whales while allowing for economically sustainable fisheries.
• Canada’s robust, adaptive right whale protection measures are key to the sustainability of Canada’s seafood exports.

If pressed on recent entanglement cases in the United States:
• We thank our American marine mammal response counterparts for the two recent successful disentanglements.
• These cases highlight the importance of Canada’s mandatory gear marking and lost gear reporting regimes. Lessons learned from entanglement cases inform management measures going forward.