Baykeeper calls for mandatory slow down of supertankers

A tenth north Atlantic right whale has been found dead, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) stated in a series of social media posts Tuesday evening.

The carcass was found south of the River of Ponds area in Newfoundland by a DFO surveillance flight.

The department issued an advisory in July asking mariners to voluntarily slow down in the Laurentian channel in shipping lanes between the Magdalen Islands and the Gaspé Peninsula until Sept. 30, to help protect right whales.

The Conservation Council’s Fundy Baykeeper, Matt Abbott, says a voluntary slow down is a step in the right direction, but more decisive action is needed given the dire situation in the gulf. “The death of 10 critically endangered right whales — that we know of — is a crisis. It’s time for the federal government to make it mandatory for supertankers to slow down in the Gulf of St. Lawrence until we have a better understanding of what is happening to whales in these waters,” Abbott says.

Abbott’s call echoes the urgency expressed by marine experts in the wake of the unprecedented right whale deaths, most recently from Moira Brown, senior scientist with the Canadian Whale Institute, who told CBC Information Morning Saint John on Aug. 3 that “we haven’t lost this many right whales in a short period of time since the days of whaling over 100 years ago. It’s been a very tragic summer.”

Federal officials and scientists have been working together to find out what’s killing the whales since the first carcass was spotted in the gulf on June 7. This latest carcass is the fourth found on the coast of Newfoundland since last week. Fisheries and Oceans is still working to confirm the identities of two of the whales using genetic samples and their cause of death, to determine if they are new deaths or ones that have already been recorded.

Preliminary necropsy results from three of the original eight right whales found dead in the waters off New Brunswick showed signs of blunt trauma, such as from a tanker strike. One was found dead entangled in fishing gear.

Fisheries and Oceans Minister Dominic LeBlanc told reporters on Tuesday that the government plans to work with scientists and the fishing and shipping industry to put in place rules to protect right whales in the gulf. He said his department would consult with organizations around the Bay of Fundy and the United States to see how they can approach protecting the species.

The minister is expected to address the deaths of right whales today (Thursday, Aug. 3) in Moncton.

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