The federal government announced new measures this week aimed at helping North Atlantic right whales return to the Gulf of St. Lawrence next summer.
Fisheries and Oceans Minister Dominic LeBlanc introduced four changes to the snow crab fishery during a press conference in Moncton on Jan. 23, the latest in efforts to address the catastrophic die-off of endangered right whales in 2017, when at least 17 whales died in Canadian and U.S. waters.
LeBlanc said a series of additional measures will be announced in the coming weeks and months. He told reporters that mandatory speed restrictions for tankers will “most likely” be imposed again.
In August 2017, Transport Canada made it mandatory for vessels 20 metres or more in length to go no faster than 10 knots when travelling in the western Gulf of St. Lawrence from the Quebec north shore to north of P.E.I. The CBC reported earlier this month that more than 500 vessels violated the speed limit between August 2017 and January 2018, resulting in just 14 fines.
At Tuesday’s press conference, LeBlanc questioned whether the penalty for violators was stiff enough.
“This is my own view, that a $6,000 fine may not represent an adequate sanction, it may not represent a sufficient deterrent,” LeBlanc said, adding he would speak with his Transport Canada colleague to ensure that fines are proportionate to “the seriousness of the offence.”
Autopsies from several of the whales that washed ashore last summer showed blunt force trauma from tanker strikes and entanglements in fishing gear as the leading causes of death.
The new measures affecting the snow crab fishery include:
- Reducing the amount of rope floating on the surface of the water to 3.7 meters when attaching a secondary buoy to a primary buoy. Ropes attached to a trap bust be vertical in the water and no rope may float on the surface of the water.
- Ropes must be marked with a color specific to each fishing area the user is authorized to fish in. This will help officials identify where entanglements occurred even if a whale has carried gear a distance.
- Identify buoys with a number, in addition to the vessel registration number that is already required.
- Make mandatory the reporting of lost gear by fishermen, beginning this year.
Recommended links:
- North Atlantic right whale death toll reaches 17
- Another right whale found dead just as scientists warm species might not last 20 years
- Canada, U.S. launch investigation into right whale deaths
- How can you help the right whale?
- Update: Feds order tankers to slow down in Gulf of St. Lawrence
- Baykeeper calls for mandatory slow down of supertankers
- Eighth right whale death sparks call for “complete review” of shipping lanes
- Seven dead right whales devastating blow: experts
- Conservation Council, Fundy Baykeeper deeply saddened by loss of whale rescuer and veteran fisher
- What’s happening to the right whale?