Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) reported an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, east of New Brunswick.
DFO said that on 22 June, a vessel survey team including the Canadian Whale Institute, Campobello Whale Rescue Team, and Équipe de Désempêtrement du Golfe spotted the whale east of Miscou Island, New Brunswick, Canada. According to DFO, the whale was later identified to be a calf that is “about” 18 months old.
“A tracking tag was successfully attached to the entangled fishing gear by the vessel survey team to aid in disentanglement efforts,” DFO said. “Our Marine Mammal Response Program will continue to monitor the situation to determine response options with our partners, and disentanglement efforts may proceed in the coming days. More information will be provided as it becomes available.”
The North Atlantic right whale is critically endangered, with scientists estimating under 400 individuals remaining in the wild. The origin of the rope that entangled the whale has not yet been determined.
The latest entanglement, which adds to previous entanglements in the U.S. and Canada in 2024, has led to more calls from environmental NGOs for the use of ropeless fishing gear in the vertical-line-heavy crab and lobster fisheries.
“Too many whales are being lost to entanglements in fishing gear and ship strikes. Ropeless gear is the way to prevent entanglements,” Oceana Canada Campaign Director Kim Elmslie said. “We are calling on DFO to expedite the release of their Whale Safe Gear Strategy so that all stakeholders can provide input and it can be implemented as soon as possible. Delaying action means another summer of whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence without a strategy to prevent entanglements.”
The Center for Biological Diversity also called for more action by the governments of both the U.S. and Canada to accelerate the adoption of ropeless, or “on-demand,” fishing gear.
“The entanglement of another North Atlantic right whale, and a calf this time, is heart-wrenching. These deaths just don't have to happen. Both Canada and the United States need to accept what a high risk traditional fishing lines pose to this vanishing species and switch to using pop-up gear,” Center for Biological Diversity Oceans Legal Director Kristen Monsell said. “We can’t expect right whales to avoid the obstacles we put in their environment, and they’re suffering immensely from too many people looking the other way.”
As a whale was spotted entangled in Canada, a dead humpback whale was spotted off the coast of Harpswell, Maine, Maine Public reported. NOAA said that the dead whale is likely the same carcass that it observed earlier in June.
The dead humpback is the second found in Maine waters within a month – a 40-foot female whale was found entangled in a fishing net off of the town of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and was later pulled out of the water in the Portland, Maine harbor.
