Endangered whales causing 'mess' for P.E.I. lobster crews forced to move traps

Lobster boat crews on P.E.I.'s North Shore are hoping two endangered right whales scram before they cause further disruption to their livelihoods.

Due to federal protocols, fishers had until Tuesday at 5 p.m. AT to move their gear out of waters deeper than 10 fathoms about 18 metres to protect the whalessighted late last week.

The measure will last for 15 days.

"That's not going to be good," said Tony Clements, who fishes out of Northport."Hopefully, the whale[s]will move on by then."

Clements said he had to relocate120 of his traps into shallower water. He said it will make the area more crowded, and with more traps placed closer together, the crustaceans will be "cleaned up" more quickly.

"We're going to lose lobster for sure. I don't know how many, it's hard to say right now, but I know it's going to affect us."

Population in 'precarious state'

This is the first time the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has had to close off this part of LFA24 stretchingfrom Tignish to New London due to a right whale sighting.

• DFO's interactive map showing right whale sightings

There had been confusion over whether one or two whales were spotted on May 18, but DFO confirmed Tuesday that two whales were in the area.

"We also know that it only takes one vertical fishing line to entangle a right whale," said Brett Gilchrist, director of national programs for DFO.

Baleen whales have their mouths open while feeding... the vertical line between the buoy and the trap will get caught in their mouth and they'll just start dragging the traps and the ropes and the buoys. Brett Gilchrist

"Typically, baleen whales have their mouths open while feeding and they'll get it caught in their mouth so the vertical line between the buoy and the trap will get caught in their mouth and they'll just start dragging the traps and the ropes and the buoys."

Gilchrist said Canada's right whale protection measures are working, "but we need to stick with it because the population is still at a precarious state."

The whales now number fewer than 350, with only 70 of those being breeding females

'Hoping for the best'

While Clements said relocating the traps was a "pain," he and other fishers said they understand therewas not much they can do with the conservation rule in place.

"We're hoping for the best," said David Henderson, who also moved 120 of his traps out of the closed zone.

"It's kind of hard to believe you can get into such a mess over one whale and as far as we all know, there's never been a whale tangled up in this gear before."

On Tuesday, Eric Gavin was also trying to remain optimistic.

"Maybe the biggest concern was that maybe we'd have to land our gear.That was the biggest fear of everybody.

"I'm not saying everybody's happy, no.But at least we're still fishing. That's one good thing."

Processors hopecatches stay strong

Jerry Gavin, executive director of the P.E.I. Seafood Processors Association, said they are not anticipating a significant drop in business.

"Hopefully the catches will remain fairly strong and we'll have product to process," he said. "There's still a lot of lobster that will be caught in the [18 metres]or less."

Melanie Giffin, a marine biologist with the association, said Island fishing crews understand the need to protect the severely endangered whales.

Out of 1,260 fishers, about 700 have already fully or partly converted to the whale-safe gear that will be mandatory by 2024.

"It's been going on for a few years now that fishers have been trying to find solutions that work for the whales and for them."

A question of compensation

Clements just hopes the whales don't move into shallower waters, forcing a widerclosure."I'm just afraid that this could be just the start of this. Like, if they had to close it any closer than they did, it would be really bad then."

Responding to questions from Liberal MLA Robert Henderson inthe P.E.I. Legislature Tuesday, provincial Fisheries Minister Cory Deagle said he hopes to speak with his federal counterpart in the next few days to discuss compensation for the fishing crews if necessary.

"We'll have to see how the next 10days play out, and hopefully we don't come to a situation where this needs to happen," Deagle said.