Review of the Effectiveness of Recovery Activities for North Atlantic right whales

Objective of this Review

Table of Contents

• Complete Text
• 1. Background
• 2. Objective of this Review
• 3. Sources of Information
• 4. Methods for Assessing Effectiveness of Recovery activities
• 5. Review of Recovery activities
  • 5.1. Recovery Objectives
  • 5.2. Threats
  • 5.3. Review of Recovery activities
• 6. Effectiveness of Recovery Activities
  • 6.1. Vessel Strikes
  • 6.2. Fishing-Gear Entanglements
  • 6.3. Disturbance and Habitat Reduction or Degradation
    • 6.3.1. Contaminants
    • 6.3.2. Acoustic Disturbance
    • 6.3.3. Vessel-presence disturbance
    • 6.3.4. Changes in Food Supply
• 7. Indirect Recovery Activities: Monitoring and Stewardship
• 8. Threat-Based Recommendations
  • 8.1. Vessel Strikes
  • 8.2. Fishing-Gear Entanglements
  • 8.3. Disturbance and Habitat Reduction or Degradation
  • 8.4. Required Research and Monitoring
• 9. Conclusions
• 10. Literature Cited
• Appendix A: Acronyms
• Appendix B: Defining Risk
• Appendix C: Summaries of Recovery Activities

2. Objective of this Review

This document provides a summary of recovery activities (measures) that have been developed and implemented to support the conservation and protection of North Atlantic right whales throughout their range (but with a focus on Canadian efforts) and aims to assess their overall effectiveness for achieving population recovery. Recovery activities are assessed from a scientific perspective only, and effectiveness of recovery activities are considered in terms of their ability to reduce threats that have been identified and associated with the endangered status of the population. This document also aims to identify how recovery objectives can be better achieved by accelerating implementation of recovery activities already identified but not underway, by identifying possible new measures, and by providing guidance on the relative priority of the measures intended to reduce risk of the identified threats to North Atlantic right whales.