Right whale population continued to decline in 2021. Pressure continues to maintain strict fishery closures

The population of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales continued to decline in 2021, according to the latest estimate that puts the surviving population at 340.

That will maintain pressure to continue strict fishery closures in Atlantic Canada to protect the whales, measures Canadian scientists and conservation groups say are reducing the risk of entanglements.

No right whale deaths have been reported in Canadian waters in three years.

The North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium released the new population estimate Monday.

The downward trend is the "biggest take home" said Heather Pettis, a research scientist with the New England Aquarium and executive director of the consortium.

"The encouraging news, if there is any that's going to come out of this, it's that it looks like the decline, the downward trend is sort of softening a bit," Pettis said during a break in the annual consortium meeting held in New Bedford, Mass.

"What we're hopeful that we're seeing is sort of the floor of the decline."

The consortium also revised its 2020 population estimate on Monday.

It had been 336 right whales and was adjusted up to 348 animals after additional photographic data from that calendar year was fully processed, the consortium said.

Between 2017 and 2019, 21 right whales died in the Gulf of St. Lawrence as large numbers of whales unexpectedly moved into what were new feeding grounds.

Canada now imposes sweeping closures when right whales are detected throughout the region.

After a visual or acoustic detection, a 2,000-square-kilometre area is closed for 15 days and fixed fishing gear is removed.

In the Gulf, a whale detection in a closed area during the next nine to 15 days triggers a season-long closure.

Pettis is not comforted by the absence of reported whale deaths in Canadian waters in recent years.

She said only one-third of right whale deaths are ever seen.

"So to say that there have been zero mortalities in Canadian waters is probably inaccurate," said Pettis.

"We haven't detected any. That doesn't mean that there have been zero mortalities. We also know that there have been several entanglements of whales."

She said Canada must maintain the fishery closures and other steps in place.

"Even when we see that uptick, that is a long road to get back to where they were 15 to 20 years ago," said Pettis. "So the management measures that help turn that tide have got to remain in place so that the species can actually recover."

That was also the consensus from a group of Canadian marine scientists and conservation groups appearing before a parliamentary committee studying the issue.

"This is not the time to tap the brakes," Sean Brillant, a senior conservation biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Federation, told MPs on Friday.

The group of witnesses universally praised Canadian measures.

"Canada's efforts on the North Atlantic right whale are currently an excellent example of what can be done," said Susanna Fuller, vice-president of operations and projects at Oceans North.

"I would say that Canada has done an incredible job with a very fast response to what happened in the Gulf in 2017," said Moira Brown, a scientist emeritus with the New England Aquarium and senior scientist with the Canadian Whale Institute.

Brown's research started 37 years ago and includes protection efforts like moving shipping lanes in the Bay of Fundy.

"I think our Canadian measures exceed those in the U.S.," she said.

"They may not still yet be enough, but I'm of the opinion, and I don't think many would disagree, that our measures do provide more protection for right whales."

The comparison with U.S. protections is being made for two reasons.

Last month, the California-based Seafood Watch program recommended consumers avoid all snow crab and lobster from the United States and Atlantic Canada because of the risk of entanglement in ropes posed by the fisheries.

"I think they made a huge mistake in lumping U.S. and Canadian fisheries all into one red listing measure. These are very different fisheries pursued at very different times of the years with very different protection measures for right whales," said Brown.

The other reason for the comparison is trade-related.

Under the United States Marine Mammal Protection Act, imported seafood must be caught under regimes with protections comparable to those in the U.S.

"This would be absolutely devastating for the East Coast if we were to lose access to the U.S. markets. So to me, I see protecting right whales as a win for the species itself but also for fishermen in Atlantic Canada," said Kim Elmslie, campaign director of Oceana Canada.

Comparability finding

Canada and other countries that export seafood to the United States have been given more time to make the case that their fisheries are harvested with equivalent protection for marine mammals.

On Oct. 20, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration extended the deadline for foreign harvesting nations to receive a "Comparability Finding" ensuring access to the U.S. The deadline moved back by one year to Dec. 31, 2023.

The delay gives NOAA Fisheries more time to evaluate applications from more than 100 countries with more than 2,500 individual fisheries; and to notify nations and the seafood trade industry of their findings.