Marine Mammal Response Program: Annual Report 2023-24

On this page

• Overview
• Basic response numbers for 2023-2024
• Incident numbers by region
• Marine Mammal Regulations
• Other national initiatives to protect whales

Overview

The Marine Mammal Response program annual report is comprised of incident and response data received from DFO regions and external partners across Canada during the fiscal year.

Response partners

DFO has several contracted partners who deliver critical marine mammal response services nationally.

• The Campobello Whale Rescue Team (CWRT) – Canadian Whale Institute (CWI)
• Tangly Whales – Whales Release and Strandings
• Groupe de recherche et d'éducation sur les mammifères marins (GREMM)
• The Marine Animal Response Society (MARS)
• Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue
• The British Columbia Marine Mammal Response Network (BCMMRN)

Veterinarians

• The University of Montreal
• The Atlantic Veterinary College
• Dr. Steven Raverty Consulting

Basic response numbers for 2023-2024

Between April 2023 and March 2024, there were a total of 1,970 reported incidents across Canada involving over 2,300 animals. Of the total number of incidents reported there were 1,386 responses. Of the total number of incidents reported, 335 were incidents involving Species At Risk (SARA) species (several incidents were listed as an unidentifiable species; therefore, the number of incidents involving SARA species could be higher). Of the 335 incidents reported involving SARA species, partners responded to 300.

The types of incidents included:

• entanglements
• close vessel approaches
• harassment
• collisions
• live strandings
• injured/sick
• sightings/free swimming
• dead (beached and floating)
• distressed
• shootings
• animals interacting with the public

The types of responses included:

• freeing entangled whales and pinnipeds
• collecting samples and performing necropsies on dead animals
• reuniting stranded animals with their pods
• responding to harassment calls
• refloating live beached animals
• monitoring sick animals
• monitoring close approaches by vessels
• warming cold-stunned sea turtles

Disclaimer

There are multiple reasons why a response to a report may not be required or may not be possible, such as duplicate reports of the same incident, or no option for safe response. It is important to note that the numbers provided in this report have been collected on an opportunistic basis via reports from response organizations. Consequently, the true number of animals impacted by human activities cannot be determined. As not all incidents are reported, the data here is likely an underestimate of the true rate of incidence occurrence for these species and populations.

Incident numbers by region

• Pacific: There were a total of 950 incidents reported and approximately 912 responses performed. 326 of those involved cetaceans and 580 involved pinnipeds. Of the total incidents, 68 involved entangled animals.
• Quebec: There were a total of 496 incidents reported and 196 responses performed. Of the responses performed, 11 were for SARA-listed species.
• Gulf: There were a total of 219 incidents reported and 94 responses performed. Of the responses performed, 9 were for SARA-listed species.
• Maritimes: There were a total of 248 incidents reported and 136 responses performed. Of the responses performed, 3 were for SARA-listed species.
• Newfoundland & Labrador: There were a total of 57 incidents reported and 48 responses performed. Of the responses performed, 8 were for SARA-listed species.

Marine Mammal Regulations

All marine mammals are subject to the provisions of the Marine Mammal Regulations under the Fisheries Act. The Government of Canada amended the Marine Mammal Regulations in 2018 to provide greater protection for marine mammals, including Canada’s at-risk whales.

It’s against the law to disturb a marine mammal. You can’t:

• feed, swim or interact with a marine mammal
• move a marine mammal (or entice/cause it to move)
• separate a marine mammal from its group or go between it and a calf
• trap a marine mammal or a group between a vessel and the shore, or between a vessel and other vessels
• tag or mark a marine mammal

Not only is intervening against the law, but situations involving marine mammals in distress can be very dangerous and even life-threatening, for people as well as the animal in distress. Only authorized marine mammal rescue personnel and partner organizations who use specialized equipment and techniques may help marine animals in distress.

If you see any marine mammal in distress, do not approach and report it as soon as possible.

Other national initiatives to protect whales

Whalesafe fisheries management measures and gear innovation

• DFO has implemented a range of national marine mammal protection measures in our fisheries over the past several years. These include:
  • requirements to report accidental contact with whales, including reporting interactions between fisheries and whales;
  • updates to the Marine Mammal Regulations to further outline disturbance restrictions and identify limits on how close vessels can approach to whales;
  • support for the development and implementation of innovative fishing gear to reduce whale entanglements.
• In 2021, Canada launched the $20 million Whalesafe Gear Adoption Fund to support fishery groups, Indigenous organizations, researchers, and gear manufacturers to advance our understanding of how whalesafe fishing gear can work in Atlantic Canadian and Quebec fisheries. The fund supported 34 projects in 2021-2023, testing and refining various types of whalesafe gear.
• In February 2023, Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced that it would work with harvesters, Indigenous groups, nongovernment organizations and others to develop a national Whalesafe Gear Strategy. DFO undertook targeted engagement in the fall of 2024 and winter of 2025, and currently preparing the strategy.
• This five-year strategy will guide the implementation of whalesafe gear in Canadian fisheries, including lower breaking strength (LBS) and on-demand gear (ODG), tailored to specific fishery conditions and informed by gear trial results and input from those involved.

Ghost gear initiative

• The term ghost gear refers to any fishing gear that has been abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded (for example, nets, line, rope, traps, pots, and floats). Other common terms include abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) and derelict fishing gear (DFG). This marine pollution is some of the most harmful debris found in our oceans and can be fatal to fish, marine mammals and other marine life, poses a navigation hazard, and also breaks down into other forms of pollution such as micro-plastics.
• In 2019, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) launched the Ghost Gear Program, working with Environment and Climate Change Canada under the Zero Plastic Waste Horizontal Initiative, and later under the Government of Canada’s 2022 commitment on Advancing a Circular Plastics Economy for Canada.
• The Ghost Gear Program addressed Canada’s commitment to address ghost fishing in Canada and globally by taking action to retrieve ghost gear in coastal and marine areas and to develop tools to prevent and mitigate the loss of gear in the future.
• The Program has a mandate commitment to create a strategy that addresses long-term prevention, mitigation, and response for ghost gear, including the development of a Canadian Ghost Gear Action Plan, to be released in 2027.
• In 2023-2024, DFO funded 48 projects within Canada and internationally, to assist Indigenous groups, fish harvesters, the aquaculture industry, non-government organizations, and communities in taking concrete action in the fight against ghost gear. These projects recovered 18,757 units (or 551 tonnes) of gear, as well as 420 km of rope. These projects were funded in response to Hurricane Fiona, which made landfall in 2022.