First of all, thank you for inviting us here today to provide our suggestions and comments on this very worrisome topic.
Since beluga whales are mostly in the St. Lawrence estuary, which is not a usual fishing area for us, are recommendations do not pertain to that species.
It is very clear to us that the mass movement of whales is attributable to climate change. In our opinion, water temperature and food sources are the two factors accounting for the significant presence of these mammals in the gulf. Given the behaviour of these mammals, any kind of human presence on the water is a risk to them. The easy solution would be to ban all human activity on the water, but we all know that is unrealistic. So we have to find approaches that allow for coexistence.
Marine activities include shipping and the traffic from cruise ships, ferries and pleasure craft. There are also oil extraction activities, and of course commercial and sport fishing.
How do these activities affect the behaviour of each species? We are just beginning to learn that. In 2017, 12 right whales died in Canadian waters. Because two of them died after getting caught in fishing gear, fishermen have taken much of the blame for the possible disappearance of the right whale. No need to look further, dear Watson, we have found the culprits!
It is not that simple though. Why did the other 10 whales die? The committee must learn why those whales died and the results of those necropsies. Without getting into a debate about who did what, let us look closely at what the fishing industy can do.
The first idea is very simple: fish only when there are no whales present. In the early spring, when the ice melts, we fish for snow crab. Can this practice be improved? We say it can. But the government has to want to work with the Coast Guard or private companies to free the fishing ports of ice.
Those opposed to this idea argue that this would entail additional costs. Our position is that it would allow us to stop fishing earlier, which would substantially decrease aerial surveillance costs. The costs would probably be the same in the end, but the possibility of incidents would be significantly reduced.