Right Whale Advocates Applaud Canada’s Proposal to Move Commercial Shipping Lanes

North Atlantic right whales are the world’s most endangered great whales, with only around 350 individuals remaining. Up to two-thirds of them gather in the Bay of Fundy each summer, where a major shipping channel passes through the whales’ summer feeding grounds.

Transport Canada, the government agency that regulates shipping, submitted a proposal April 5 to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to move ship traffic lanes in the Bay of Fundy so that they skirt the area where most right whales congregate. The Canadian proposal to move the shipping lanes will continue to undergo local consultation and will culminate in a decision at the IMO annual meeting on July 12-16, 2002 in London, England.

“This is an important step to foster the recovery of right whales since collisions with ships are responsible for half of all North Atlantic right whale deaths over the last 10 years. With a population of only 350, every life lost is a blow to the population’s genetic strength,” said Dr. Moira Brown, senior scientist with the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Mass., and the Canadian Whale Institute in Bolton, Ontario. Brown has worked on the lane-change plan since 1998.

Most of the female right whales are now en route from their winter calving grounds off Florida and Georgia to the Bay of Fundy, between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

“For these whales, spending their summers in the Bay of Fundy is like having their playground in the middle of a highway,” said Cathy Merriman of World Wildlife Fund Canada’s marine conservation program. “We are optimistic that when the IMO meets in July, it will approve Canada’s proposal to move the shipping lanes within its own waters. The whales can’t wait another year, and we congratulate Transport Minister Collenette for taking this important step towards reducing their risk of collisions.”

The IMO is the United Nations agency responsible for improving ship traffic safety. The lane-change proposal had widespread support in Atlantic Canada, including the backing of Irving Oil, which employs the largest shipping fleet in the Bay of Fundy.

For the past four years, Irving Oil has been active on the right whale recovery team working groups in the U.S. and Canada, working with government officials, scientists and environmentalists in finding practical solutions for the endangered right whale population.

“Irving Oil is the largest operator of ships moving in and out of the Bay of Fundy and we fully support this move to protect the right whales feeding there,” says John Logan, manager of Shipping Operations for Irving Oil. “We have been working with the New England Aquarium for the past four years on the issue of altering the shipping lanes as well as supporting their right whale research in the Bay of Fundy each summer. It took some time to research and find the correct solution and this looks like it will reduce the chances of ship/whale interaction substantially.”

There has been other good news for the right whales this year as well. The population enjoyed another baby boom this winter, with a total of 18 new calves identified so far, according to New England Aquarium researchers. This comes on the heels of last year’s record of 31 calves and follows several years of disastrously low reproduction rates.

“We were thrilled to see so many new calves swimming with their mothers this year. Eighteen births is significant,” said Scott Kraus, director of research at the New England Aquarium, which identified the new whales. “But although this new infusion of calves gives the whale population a much-needed boost, their situation remains dire.”

The baby boom of the past two years, as well as the disastrously low calf counts of years past, appears to be related to shifting oceanographic conditions that influence the availability of the plankton these whales eat. The New England Aquarium in Boston, the lead organization working to identify right whale calves each year, maintains a photo catalogue of individual right whales. Researchers there have identified at least 18 new calves this year, but Kraus notes that more may be identified as researchers continue to monitor the population in coming months.

Since 1997, World Wildlife Fund and the Center for Coastal Studies, with the New England Aquarium, have worked in partnership to support critical right whale research, increase federal funding available for conserving this species, and raise public awareness about threats to its survival. For more information about right whale conservation, visit www.wwf.ca, www.coastalstudies.org, and www.neaq.org