The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) officials are concerned about the death of six north Atlantic right whales in Gulf of St. Lawrence since June 7.
The dead whales were recently spotted in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. DFO says this situation is very concerning as the cause of death of these animals in not yet known.
The North Atlantic Right whale is protected in Canada under the Canadian Species at Risk Act and the US Marine Mammal Protection Act. According to officials, the recent death of right whales is a big loss for this species as it amounts to over one per cent of the total population of the species. According to officials, two of these dead whales were females. According to DFO, there are only 500 right whales left in the world.
DFO says it is trying to find out the reason behind the deaths of so many right whales in the waters off eastern Canada. The department has dispatched an aircraft to study the reason for these deaths. Canadian Coast Guard vessels will also help DFO officials in this mission to ensure that no more right whales die in the region. The team will try to take samples from dead whales. They have already placed satellite tags on two dead whales to track their movement in the water.
“It’s a bit of an unprecedented event in that we’ve never had an incident like this involving right whales where so many animals have been turning up dead just over the last few weeks,” said Tonya Wimmer, a marine biologist and the director of Marine Animal Response Society.
“The loss of even one animal is huge with animals with a population this small. Basically, every animal counts,” he added.
“We’re not just losing her, you’re losing every baby she could have [throughout] her lifespan.”
“That could be five, 10 animals.”
“There’s nothing on them. There doesn’t seem to be anything apparent from the outside,” said Wimmer.
DFO team is currently trying to tow one of the carcasses to a nearby location. DFO is contacting experts from the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, Marine Animal Response Society, Atlantic Veterinary College and the Canadian Whale Institute to this matter.
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