Save the Right Whale: Urge Fisheries Canada to Create Mandatory Standards to Prevent Entanglement
- by: Amelia Meister
- recipient: Hunter Tootoo, Head of Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Canada
The North Atlantic right whale is a highly endangered species, with only about 450 individuals left in the world! This highly endangered giant of the deep is at risk from threats of entanglement: getting caught in fishing lines in the Gulf of St Lawrence.
Currently, in certain areas of the Gulf, lobster fishers have adopted voluntary measures to prevent entanglement of these beautiful creatures. However, we must do more to protect right whales by ensuring that the best practices are mandatory and that they extend into the entire Gulf of St Lawrence where right whales are found.
By signing today you are standing with these majestic animals. Call on the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to take the necessary steps to ensure their long-term survival.
We call upon you to expand on your entanglement prevention program for the North Atlantic Right Whale in the Gulf of St Lawrence. We understand that the current best practices by lobster fishers are voluntary measures and only happening in certain portions of the Gulf.
With the knowledge that there are only 450 right whales left in the world, we know that stricter measures need to be taken. We call upon you to make the current entanglement prevention practices mandatory and to extend their range into the entire Gulf of St Lawrence as right whales are found in the entire Gulf.
