Engagement on the science-based whale review

A summary of what was heard
March 2018

Engagement on the Science-based Whale Review
A Summary of What was Heard

Prepared by the consortium of Nielsen, Delaney + Associates, PubliVate.
Contract #: FP918-17-0001

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Table of Contents

• Complete Text
• 1. Executive Summary
• 2. Project Background
• 3. Summary of Engagement Strategy
  • 3.1 Targeted Input
  • 3.2 Open Public Engagement
• 4. Summary of What We Heard
  • 4.1 Who Did We Hear From?
  • 4.2 Understanding the Findings
  • 4.3 How the Following Sections are Organized
• 5. Prey Availability
  • 5.1 Summary of Key Themes
  • 5.2 What Indigenous Groups Said
  • 5.3 What Governments and Other Stakeholders Said
  • 5.4 What the General Public Said
• 6. Entanglements
  • 6.1 Summary of Key Themes
  • 6.2 What Indigenous Groups Said
  • 6.3 What Governments and Other Stakeholders Said
  • 6.4 What the General Public Said
• 7. Acoustic Disturbance and Vessel Presence
  • 7.1 Summary of Key Themes
  • 7.2 What Indigenous Groups Said
  • 7.3 What Governments and Other Stakeholders Said
  • 7.4 What the General Public Said
• 8. Vessel Strikes
  • 8.1 Summary of Key Themes
  • 8.2 What Indigenous Groups Said
  • 8.3 What Governments and Other Stakeholders Said
  • 8.4 What the General Public Said
• 9. Contaminants
  • 9.1 Summary of Key Themes
  • 9.2 What Indigenous Groups Said
  • 9.3 What Governments and Other Stakeholders Said
  • 9.4 What the General Public Said
• 10. Conclusions - Readiness to Move Actions Forward
  • 10.1 Common Themes across All Threats
  • 10.2 Roles and Leadership
  • 10.3 Improved Coordination and Communication
  • 10.4 Future Engagement and Consultation
  • 10.5 Region-specific Actions
• 11. Appendices
  • Appendix A: Who We Heard From
  • Appendix B. Profile of Respondents – Let’s Talk Whales Online Engagement
  • Appendix C: Engagement Questions

6. Entanglements

Entanglement and entrapment of whales in fixed fishing gear, and other types of lines in the water, is a known threat, especially for the North Atlantic Right Whale. Interactions with fishing gear are a major cause of serious injury and death for this population, and an important impediment to recovery. ^{Footnote 24} As of 2012, 83% of the North Atlantic Right Whale population was found to have scars indicative of an entanglement in fishing gear at some time in their lives, and the rate of serious entanglement detected has increased significantly over the past 30 years. ^{Footnote 25} Linking entanglements to a particular location or gear type in Canada is difficult given the whales are highly mobile and often only ropes remain on an entangled whale; this part of the gear is unmarked and not identifiable.

6.1 Summary of Key Themes

Indigenous groups, Governments and other stakeholders provided feedback on the threat of entanglements for the North Atlantic Right Whale. This threat was not discussed for the Southern Resident Killer Whale or the St. Lawrence Estuary Beluga.

• The majority of on-line participants expressed their concern about the threat of entanglement and its impact on the North Atlantic Right Whale. The fishing industry was open to discussion and willing to engage in solving the problem.
• There was some support for introducing fishing restrictions in currently identified North Atlantic Right Whale critical habitat to remove fishing gear that can cause entanglements (Grand Manan Basin; Roseway Basin).
• All participants were open to some restrictions on fishing through dynamic closures in other areas that are highly used by North Atlantic Right Whales. However, participants requested more information on the concept of dynamic closures (e.g., during the fishing season versus on a seasonal basis) and how high use areas will be identified and managed. Fishery closures should target those fisheries known to pose the greatest risk of entanglement for North Atlantic Right Whales.
• Participants stressed that decisions to restrict or close fisheries should be reliant on the availability of accurate, and if possible, real-time data on whale presence; a clear, practical approach to communicating and implementing closures is needed that takes into account the impact on Indigenous communities and the broader fishing industry.
• Funding is needed to strengthen monitoring and research on North Atlantic Right Whale presence, to increase capacity for entanglement response in the Canadian Atlantic and Québec (more people trained to respond; funds for equipment and operations), and to develop awareness campaigns to educate fishers and other marine users about identifying these whales and reporting sightings.
• There was support from most participants for advancing research and testing of gear modifications that decrease the risk of entanglements; Indigenous groups are interested in participating in the testing process.
• Participants from the fishing industry acknowledged that gear marking and new gear reporting systems could be implemented, but the impacts on fishermen should be considered (keeping it simple, maintaining privacy, minimizing time and financial cost).

6.2 What Indigenous Groups Said

Indigenous groups are supportive of protecting North Atlantic Right Whales but also need to be able to fish to support themselves and their communities. They feel a responsibility to be involved in implementing actions. There is interest in conservation and in increasing community capacity to prevent risks and respond to entanglement events.

Some of the priority management actions that relate to fishing could infringe on Indigenous rights. The Government of Canada must be aware of this and its duty to consult.

Suggestions from Indigenous participants included:

• Consider the continued movement of North Atlantic Right Whales prior to implementing fishery closures to ensure:
  1. a measureable benefit to their protection;
  2. unnecessary or counterproductive relocation of fishing gear, e.g., where there may be likelihood of North Atlantic Right Whale migration into neighbouring areas where the fishing gear has not been removed;
• Train and adequately resource Indigenous groups to help monitor whale presence, report and respond to entanglements;
• Involve Indigenous groups in testing different fishing gear technologies and innovations, as part of new funding for applied research;
• Consider subsidies to Indigenous community members affected by changes or restrictions on type of gear or lines that would increase costs, particularly where profits are already low;
• Work towards transboundary cooperation with the United States for actions to reduce risk in Canadian waters, specifically in "Grey Zone" jurisdictions; involve First Nations communities along the Canada-United States border in collaborative efforts.
• Use gear marking and gear reporting as an added measure to deter illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing that takes place in Atlantic Canadian waters.

6.3 What Governments and Other Stakeholders Said

In general, participants at in person/webinar meetings believe that additional capacity and funding is needed to prevent and respond to entanglements. Enhanced or new funding is needed to support Government of Canada activities as well as the activities of external partners.

Participants suggested funding is needed to:

• Strengthen scientific monitoring and research that identifies the presence of North Atlantic Right Whales throughout the year and in broader geographic areas, taking into account the potential for shifting distribution patterns of the North Atlantic Right Whale, e.g., beyond currently identified critical habitats to include new areas where congregations of North Atlantic Right Whales have recently been identified;
• Improve communications and processes for timelier, coordinated action when North Atlantic Right Whales are present in Canadian waters to reduce entanglement risk, e.g., by removing fishing gear through temporary closure of fisheries (in certain areas; at certain times of year);
• Advance research and testing of gear modifications that could reduce risk of entanglements, e.g., in partnership with Indigenous groups, universities and the fishing industry;
• Develop awareness campaigns to educate fishermen and other marine users about identifying whales and reporting all sightings and entanglement events;
• Increase human and financial capacity for entanglement response: more entanglement response teams serving the Canadian Atlantic and Québec; new training opportunities for people to learn whale rescue techniques; funds to cover the costs of operations, equipment and vessel maintenance, support for whale entanglement response networks;
• Support other levels of government, Indigenous groups and stakeholders to take actions that protect the whale population from entanglement and preserve their habitat, e.g., through enhanced or new funding programs.

Implement temporary fishery closures to remove fishing gear from whale critical habit and high use areas.

For the North Atlantic Right Whale, temporary fishery closures were identified in the science assessment report as a priority management action. Areas of focus for this action are:

1. Currently identified critical habitat in Grand Manan Basin, Roseway Basin;
2. Other identified high use areas

Participants supported the idea of modifying fishing activity in critical habitat. Some participants supported the idea of temporary fishery closures as a way to remove fishing gear from areas where whales are present and could potentially become entangled. For example, support was expressed for the recent step by the Government of Canada to close the snow crab fishery a few days early in an area where a large and sustained concentration of North Atlantic Right Whales were detected and were becoming entangled. Environmental non-governmental organizations have been promoting planned seasonal closures as a management action, rather than active removal of fixed fishing gear during the season in real time when whale presence is detected (i.e., dynamic area management), assuming real time detection is possible.

However, in general, participants felt that more specific information was needed to understand the practicalities of implementing fishery closures and the impact on Indigenous groups, local fishermen, and the fishing industry as a whole.

Participants suggested additional details were needed about:

• Which fisheries are present in the Grand Manan and Roseway Basin critical habitat areas;
• Where other North Atlantic Right Whale high-use areas are located and which fisheries are present there;
• Whether the proposed temporary fishing closures would only be seasonal or if they would be implemented if and when North Atlantic Right Whales were detected in real time in critical habitat or high use areas, after the fishery had already begun;
• What the trigger or threshold would be for a temporary closure, e.g., number of North Atlantic Right Whales present, length of time they need to be present, as well as the definition of "high use area";
• Who would be responsible for analyzing the North Atlantic Right Whale monitoring data and designating a high use area, and how quickly this would be done to ensure rapid processing of data from the field;
• The level of gear restriction and areas that would be affected, including which types of gear (commercial fixed fishing gear, mobile gear or herring weirs) would need to be removed;
• The potential socioeconomic impact of temporary fishing closures (in certain geographic areas or during different seasonal times).

Suggestions from other participants included:

• Reconsider removing all gear at a given time; is this necessary?;
• Base decisions about gear removal on current information regarding whale presence as well as the types of gear and fisheries that are involved in North Atlantic Right Whale entanglements;
• Provide clear information to the general public, Indigenous groups and others who would be impacted by such closures about why changes to fishing activity are necessary and what the impact would be on fisheries;
• Develop a new conservation strategy that takes into account potential changes in distribution patterns of North Atlantic Right Whales that includes:
  • Better monitoring and surveillance to rapidly detect potential shifts in whale distribution, outside the known traditional high use areas (i.e., southern Gulf of the St. Lawrence) and notification of authorities;
  • More flexible legislative and regulatory tools for the Government of Canada to quickly introduce or lift temporary mitigation measures such as restrictions on fishing or shipping to reduce risk of harm to North Atlantic Right Whales.

Remove rope from the water column by using ropeless gear where North Atlantic Right Whales are present.

Participants were interested in exploring gear modification, but the focus on using ropeless gear was questioned. It was felt that more needs to be done to understand what gear and what type of rope is problematic to whales and what modifications would be feasible, workable, safe and practical.

Participant suggestions included:

• Engage other levels of government, Indigenous groups, fishermen and the fishing industry in finding solutions and implementing gear modifications; fishermen know essential information about gear and area fishing conditions (tide, current and sea bottom types);
• Share information about the current state of new ropeless gear technology and who is currently involved in its development and testing;
• Consider the cost of ropeless gear and evidence that it has a high failure rate and creates ghost gear ^{Footnote 26};
• Provide new funding to support research partnerships, pilot testing of new innovations, and promotional activities to adopt the use of new gear types that reduce risk and/or harm from entanglement.

Improve response to North Atlantic Right Whale Entanglements.

Participants agreed that response to North Atlantic Right Whale entanglement events needs to be strengthened in a number of ways.

Participants suggested to:

• Improve monitoring and notification of whale entanglements to facilitate coordinated response;
• Invest in expanded whale response capacity: increase number and expand reach of whale response teams to cover areas where North Atlantic Right Whales have recently been detected in higher numbers; training for new responders; operations, response vessels and equipment;
• Use existing reporting and response processes in the Bay of Fundy as a model that could be replicated elsewhere in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Québec and Atlantic waters, as it is an example of a model where North Atlantic Right Whale scientists and fishermen work well together to identify and respond to entanglements.

Introduce new gear marking, retrieval and reporting.

New gear marking and gear retrieval programs could help identify the source of gear involved in North Atlantic Right Whale entanglements. Although fishing gear (buoys and balloons) is already marked for ownership, gear marking of the rope components is needed as the gear retrieved is often only rope. Coloured markings could be used to identify gear used in each type of fishery as well as each type of line (e.g., end lines versus groundlines).

Participants felt that introducing new gear marking and gear reporting requirements could be relatively easy to implement and could help build understanding of the types of gear causing harm to North Atlantic Right Whales. However, they requested more specific information to help them understand actions and their implications.

Specific suggestions included:

• Recognize that fishermen are currently involved in trying to find gear modification solutions that minimize impact to the fishing industry and maximize protection for North Atlantic Right Whales; ensure their ongoing engagement in implementation;
• Consider the cost and time implications of implementing new gear marking and gear reporting requirements for the different fisheries;
• Provide more information about the type of gear marking proposed;
• Clarify the purpose of gear marking and communicate this clearly to fishermen so they understand the intent: to gather data from entangled whales to understand what gear or gear part is problematic for North Atlantic Right Whales and not to assign blame or lay charges against fishermen or the fishing industry;
• Coordinate gear marking schemes in Canada with those already underway in the United States to allow clear identification of source of gear;
• Provide information about existing reporting systems for gear sets of different fisheries and about whether the priority would be applied equally to all fisheries;
• Clarify whether gear reporting would be: for fixed fishing gear ^{Footnote 27}; would apply to critical habitat, high use areas or both;
• Include gear location reporting as a modified requirement in logbooks (reporting gear that is set as well as gear that was hauled in), as well as a requirement to report lost gear;
• Ensure that gear reports by fishermen are kept confidential to ensure that prime fishing locations are not made public.

6.4 What the General Public Said

The Let's Talk Whales online portal included an open-ended question designed to ask for opinions on the actions identified by scientists in the Phase 1 science assessment to address the threat of entanglement. The list of actions included:

• Modify fishing gear to reduce entanglement risk;
• Remove fishing gear from areas highly used by whales when whales are present; and,
• Have an effective network of responders to disentangle whales.
• Approximately half of the responses directly addressed the above actions. About one third of responses mentioned other actions, with other responses being more general statements not related to particular actions.
• The tone of the comments was overwhelmingly positive towards the actions proposed, with very few comments expressing caution regarding the impact of actions.
• Comments addressing direct actions were relatively balanced among the three actions presented. The action which received the highest response was modifying fishing gear to reduce entanglement risk, followed closely by removing fishing gear from areas highly used by whales, and having a network of responders to disentangle whales.
• Comments related to modifying fishing gear focused on the importance of implementing this action and the need for innovation in fishing gear design. Some comments that supported removing fishing gear from high use areas also identified the need for more enforcement of the action.
• The need for stronger legislation or regulations was a common theme among other actions suggested by those who responded, e.g., larger fines for infractions. This topic was brought forward not only by the general public, but also by some participants self-identified as members of the government, environmental non-governmental organizations and businesses.
• Other responses related to the perceived need to improve the process for identifying and implementing proposed actions. Some participants suggested improving research, modelling and data collection methods to better understand the whales and their habitat. Others highlighted the need to prioritize preventive threat reduction measures.