Whale tales
Did you know that our of the 49 marine mammal species in Canada, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) has assessed 46 species, and 19 are deemed to be at risk? That’s 41 per cent of the total that were assessed.
In our recent submission to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) on the revised Marine Mammal Regulations (MMR), WWF recommended strengthening the regulations to boost protection for these prized species.
Bowhead whale at Isabella Bay, also known as Niginganiq, Nunavut, Canada. © Paul Nicklen/National Geographic Stock / WWF-Canada
WWF applauds the improved conservation practices for whale watchers in the revised regulations, and welcomes the new responsibility to notify authorities when accidental contact with marine mammals occurs to help identify the occurrence of threats. But the regulations are silent on a number of other threats: habitat loss, pollution, ship strikes, accidental capture or entanglement in fishing gear, and the indirect effects of climate change.
We’re particularly concerned about that these new regulations don’t control acoustic problems from activities like shipping, seismic surveys, oil and gas exploration, ocean drilling, underwater construction and naval operations.
Expanding protection for marine mammals
Disturbing marine mammals will now be prohibited. According to the regs, that means approaching an animal to feed, swim or interact with it, move or entice it, cause it to move, or tag or mark it. But because other activities can disturb marine mammals we think the definition of “ disturb” should be expanded.
Once the new regulations pass, boats will have to maintain an approach distance of 100 metres from all whales, dolphins and porpoises in all Canadian fisheries waters, except for a limited number of exceptions. Surprisingly, most threatened and endangered marine mammals were not identified as species requiring greater approach distances.
Specifically, endangered southern resident killer whales that travel back and forth between Canada and the U.S. have different approach distances. It’s worth noting that U.S. regulations prohibit vessels from approaching any killer whale closer than 182.9 metres, compared to the 100 set out in the Canadian regs. So a killer whale that crossed the Canada-U.S. boundary would have greater protection once reaching U.S. waters. This is an anomaly that should be corrected.
No-go zones
We also asked DFO to establish “no-go” zones for certain areas and times of year, and to restrict both the number of boats allowed at any one time in critical habitat or other known areas of high use, and the time that boats are allowed to spend in or near that habitat. These types of restrictions are necessary to protect marine mammals from all types of disturbance, and potentially, from death.
Finally, we emphasized the need for regulations to protect marine mammals from all forms of acoustic disturbance, not just whale watching boats.
Canada needs a more holistic approach to marine mammal protection, either in a more comprehensive law like the one in the U.S, or in an action plan like the one in New Zealand, to ensure the recovery of Species at Risk Act (SARA) listed marine mammal species, and to prevent additional species from becoming at risk.
