Right whales found dead in the water, are raising questions about the quality of the water. Necropsies will be performed to determine the cause.
Photo Credit: CP / DFO

Right whales dying in the Gulf of St. Lawrence

Right whales are dying near the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence on Canada’s east coast, and no one knows why.

Six carcasses have been discovered since June 6th, and Isabelle Elliott of Canada’s Fisheries Department said there could be more.

Tonya Wimmer, a marine biologist, says samples will be critical to determining what caused the deaths. © CBC

“There have been several sightings but because these animals are actually drifting around, we have to make sure that the animals that we’re seeing are not repetitive sightings of the same animal. We will hopefully have more firm numbers in the next day or so.” Elliott said in an interview with Canadian Press.

Three of the whales were tagged with satellite trackers, making it easier to locate the drifting carcasses, and a fourth will be tagged in the next few days, Elliot said.

Marine mammal experts are now trying to coordinate the huge operation of finding a place they can haul the creatures to, and begin the post-mortem examinations.

“The deaths may have been caused by a toxic algal bloom”

They are talking with the provinces nearby. Right whales grow to about 15 metres in length and weigh 40,000 to 70,000 kilograms.

“They (need) an area that is accessible by heavy equipment,” Elliot said yesterday during a news conference in Moncton, New Brunswick.

“We need to put together a plan for towing the whales from their location in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the appropriate location. We need to mobilize a team to do the necropsies.”

Elliot said they plan on doing at least two or three necropsies,

Tonya Wimmer is with the Marine Animal Response Society. She says collecting the biological samples is crucial to discovering what caused the deaths and possibly preventing more deaths.

There is a theory developing that the deaths may have been caused by a toxic algal bloom.

“It is a theory that we’re considering. We are also looking at other species that frequent those waters – birds and other fish – that can give us some indication as to whether there are signs of toxic algal blooms. We have not observed any overt signs at this time,” Matthew Hardy of the Fisheries Department said.

Laurie Murison is with the Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station. She said collisions with vessels or entanglement in fishing gear could be another cause, as they have been several times in the last 24 months.

“Then there could be some other factors like toxins or something else that is happening with that population,” she said.

Murison described this string of deaths as “catastrophic” for the species, as it represents more than one per cent of the 500 North Atlantic right whales left.

“This year with having only five calves born and having six die, you’re actually going backwards with the population,'” she said.

During the 1930s, the population of right whales had plummeted to about 50, but has now increased to approximately 500.

The Gulf of St. Lawrence used to be a major feeding ground for the right whales, Murison said, and they have only returned in recent years in search of food.

With files from Canadian Press and CBC

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