Officials say nearly half of all North Atlantic right whales in the world were spotted in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence this year during surveillance that will inform future protection measures.
The federal Fisheries department and Transport Canada gave an update Tuesday on the key findings from a meeting last month on the endangered mammal.
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Garry Stenson, a Fisheries research scientist, says an estimated 190 right whales are believed to have been in the southern Gulf this year, nearly half the remaining population of about 411.
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Stenson says there is also clear evidence there has been an increase in the number of right whales in the Gulf starting in about 2015, and that the whale’s presence there was quite rare up until recent years.
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He says it’s believed changes in the abundance and distribution of the whale’s prey is closely related to where right whales are now being found.
The information from the peer-review meeting will be used to inform management measures for 2019.
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