October 9, 2018 — Representatives of the fishing industry and Fisheries and Oceans Canada met in Moncton over the weekend to look at the impact protection measures were having on the North Atlantic right whale — and to help decide what should happen next year.
The 2018 fishing season has been controversial, with fishermen in the Acadian Peninsula protesting the new federal measures that were put in place to protect the North Atlantic right whale.
Some of those measures included closing several fisheries where whales were present in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, speed restrictions for boats and increased surveillance.
“I think it was huge this year, the collaboration. The fishermen were very good at monitoring the management measures,” said Serge Doucet, regional director of Fisheries and Oceans Canada for the Gulf of St. Lawrence, speaking in French.
Doucet noted that no North Atlantic right whales died in Canadian waters this year from entanglements or collisions with fishing boats.
And although there have been some interactions with whales this year, the department believes that measures to protect right whales have been effective so far.
“There were challenges, it was not easy for all fishermen,” he said. “But their commitment to protect whales is there.”