Right whale detection in Gulf will mean restrictions for some P.E.I. lobster boats

The P.E.I. Fishermen's Association says the sighting of a North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence region will mean some lobster fishing crews on the North Shore will have to remove their gear.

The affected boats will have to have their equipment out of the water by Sunday at 5 p.m. AT at the latest. 

Fisheries and Oceans Canada said the endangered whale had come close enough to the northern boundary of Lobster Fishing Area 24, off the west end of Prince Edward Island, to mean some parts of that region would have to be closed for 15 days in order to prevent the whale from becoming entangled in gear. 

"We did ask a few of the representatives from the area and they said that if there's any, there's very few in the area right now. So fingers crossed it's not affecting too many of our harvesters at this time," said Melanie Giffin, a marine biologist and program planner with the P.E.I. Fishermen's Association. 

A pilot project began this year to ease the impact of such closures on fishing boats during the relatively short spring lobster season, including an exemption for boats with whale-safe gear and a shorter closure period. 

But Giffin said the new protocols don't apply in this case because the water in the region is too deep. 

"There were some changes this year to some of the closures and some of the protocols, but all of those come into effect inside the 20-fathom line, and this is still outside the 20-fathom line," she said. 

The whale sighting is the first this year to affect any P.E.I. boats, Giffin said. 

"The last time we had a closure inside an LFA boundary was in 2023. I believe that forced fishers out of their fishing areas."

Whale-safe gear in place

The P.E.I. Fishermen's Association has nearly 1,300 members, of whom 800 had gotten whale-safe gear as of April. That kind of equipment, also known as low breaking strength gear, is designed to release under pressure of more than 1,700 pounds or 771 kilograms.

"If that whale [had] caused a closure inside that 20-fathom line, then harvesters could actually continue to fish if they removed one buoy line and followed the rules for whale-safe gear," Giffin said.  

"It gives harvesters a little more opportunity to move gear around without overcrowding other areas as much."

Fisheries and Oceans Canada's website says there are only 372 North American right whales remaining in the world's oceans.  

Federal scientists maintain a tool called Whale Insight, "an interactive visualization tool that displays detections of North Atlantic right whales in eastern Canadian waters. These detections are either visually observed by aerial and at-sea surveillance, or recorded with acoustic technologies."