Question Period Note: Measures to Protect Endangered Marine Mammals from Marine Vessels

• Transport Canada has put in place a suite of protective measures to reduce the impacts of marine traffic on the Southern Resident killer whale (SRKW) and the North Atlantic right whale (NARW).
• We are working collaboratively with Indigenous Groups, coastal communities, industry, academia and marine stakeholders to assess the measures put in place in 2019, and to refine our approach for the coming season to reduce the impacts of vessel traffic on at-risk whale populations, including the threat of underwater vessel noise to the SRKW, and the threat of vessel collisions with NARW.
• We are adapting the approach as new science emerges, and also working on long term solutions by advancing quiet ship designs and new technologies to reduce underwater noise from ships at the source and improving our ability to detect whales.
• We look forward to this continued collaboration to help reduce the risks that vessel traffic poses to the marine environment while balancing our commitment to safety, security and strong coastal communities.

• Transport Canada (TC), in collaboration with the marine industry, academia, Indigenous groups, environmental organizations, other government departments, the United States (U.S.) and the broader international community, is assessing, testing and implementing measures to reduce the impacts of marine traffic on at-risk whale populations, in particular the Southern Resident killer whale (SRKW), and the North Atlantic right whale (NARW). These measures are adaptively managed to be more effective year after year, with work already underway for the 2020 season.
• For the SRKW on the west coast of Canada, underwater noise and physical disturbance from vessels are one of the 3 key threats facing the species. Lack of prey and contaminants are the other two threats, which are being managed by Fisheries and Oceans and Environment and Climate Change Canada respectively.
• With only 73 remaining as of November 2019, the SRKW are facing imminent threats to their survival and recovery. TC, with the collaboration of key stakeholders, has implemented a suite of voluntary and mandatory measures to reduce vessel impacts from both large commercial vessels and smaller recreational and whale watching vessels.
• In addition to a seasonal voluntary slowdown of large commercial vessels, for the 2019 season, TC issued an Interim Order under the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 to establish mandatory “interim sanctuary zones” to restrict on an interim basis all boats from key foraging areas, and increased the minimum distance (from 200 to 400 metres) that vessels could approach any killer whale. The 2019 measures concluded in October as SRKW presence in the Salish Sea decreases in the winter.
• On the east coast, the NARW, of which approximately 400 remain, are facing two primary threats: entanglements in fishing gear and vessel strikes. Since 2015, their Canadian summer distribution has shifted from the Bay of Fundy and southeast of Nova Scotia to the Gulf of St-Lawrence.
• In the summer of 2017, a total of 17 NARWs were found dead, 12 within Canadian waters and 5 within U.S waters, with some showing evidence of fishing gear entanglement and others vessel strikes. Mandatory measures to reduce vessel speed were implemented starting in late summer 2017, and these measures are re-instated each spring before the whales return. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has also been implementing a package of measures to reduce the risk of entanglements in fishing gear.
• No NARW were found dead in Canadian waters in 2018, but another 8 died in Canadian waters in the summer of 2019, prompting the Government to quickly expand protection measures. This included extended the seasonal vessel speed restrictions to apply to more vessels and to cover a larger geographical area, and significantly increasing aerial surveillance both in terms of frequency and area of surveillance, to ensure no whales were in the area.
• The mandatory, 10-knot vessel speed restriction, which concluded on November 12, 2019, was expanded in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and was applied to vessels greater than 13 metres in length. Speed limits in the shipping lanes north and south of Anticosti Island were dynamically managed – vessels were allowed to travel at safe operational speeds unless a North Atlantic right whale was detected within the lanes through aerial surveillance. In 2019, the frequency of aerial surveillance flights were increased considerably for additional protection.
• The speed limits for marine vessels to protect NARW are strictly enforced. To date, TC has issued a total of $271,800 in Administrative Monetary Penalties (AMPs) to 40 vessels for failure to observe these speed limits. In 2019 alone, TC issued a total of $145,800 in AMPs to 19 vessels.

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