Fishing area off Naufrage, P.E.I., being restricted after entangled right whale detected

The P.E.I. Fishermen's Association says a North Atlantic right whale's presence very close to the Island's coast means some lobster boats have to remove their traps while others can keep fishing with whale-safe gear.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada issued a notice to fishers Tuesday that included a large area of Lobster Fishing Area 24 that lies off Naufrage, near P.E.I.'s northeastern tip. 

The federal department also sent a message to media, saying that on Monday, its officials spotted an entangled North Atlantic right whale they identified as whale number 5132 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence near Morell, P.E.I.

"This right whale is a juvenile male, born in 2021, first sighted entangled off North Carolina in December 2024," the message said. "This entangled whale was recently sighted on May 27, 2025, near Les Escoumins in the St. Lawrence Estuary...

"If the whale is located again, and weather and sea conditions allow, efforts will be made to attempt disentanglement by our Marine Mammal Response partner the Campobello Whale Rescue Team."

Boats fishing in indicated areas off Naufrage that are deeper than 20 fathoms will have to have all their equipment out of the water by Sunday, June 22, at 5 p.m. AT. 

"If you check your traps, DFO expects you to move them at the time you are checking them," the fishermen's association said in a social media post late Tuesday afternoon. "You are not supposed to reset traps in an area announced to be closed."

But some of the affected area is shallower than 20 fathoms, or around 36 metres, so boats with lobster traps set there can continue to harvest as long as they have whale-safe gear to deploy. They would just have to remove a buoy line to reduce the chance of the whale becoming entangled.

About 800 members of the P.E.I. Fishermen's Association have that kind of gear, also known as low breaking strength gear, which is designed to release under pressure of more than 1,700 pounds or 771 kilograms.

The closure of fishing grounds deeper than 20 fathoms "means there's a lot of moving and shuffling and shifting that our harvesters will have to make," Melanie Giffin, a marine biologist with the association, said Tuesday.

"It's a fair assumption to say that it's going to affect all the harvesters out of Naufrage. So there's approximately 75 boats in that harbour."

She added that the association will be keeping a close eye on DFO's online whale location tools in the next few days. 

"If the whale moves a little bit, it may result in additional closures — or it may leave the area altogether."

Boats off western P.E.I. affected last week

This is the second closure in less than a week for P.E.I. boats. Just last Friday, boats based off the northwestern point of P.E.I. were told to take their gear out of the water for 15 days when an earlier DFO notice affected a deeper fishing area where they had set traps.  

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

Whales like the one spotted off P.E.I. on Monday are prone to being hit by large ships and becoming entangled in fishing gear, although Canada has brought in stringent rules for mariners to prevent such incidents. 

"We ask the public not to approach a rescue effort, should you see one underway," Fisheries and Oceans Canada warned in news release. "Keep your distance. Responding to an entanglement is dangerous, and our partners need space and time to safely do their work."