As the campaign to save whales is getting stronger day by day fishermen and Canadian scientists are working together to develop new lobster gear to save whales from accidental catches or harm. The number of remaining North Atlantic right whales numbering fewer than 400 and the number is decreasing with each passing season.
It is no doubt that the issue of whale entanglements is not without controversy south of the border, where United States environmentalists are putting on pressure to ban conventional fishing lines that fishermen use on their lobster traps. A seafood industry insider said that last year, following a court battle with U.S. environmentalists, the U.S. national fisheries agency began implementing a ban on floating groundlines and offering subsidies to help fishermen to replace their gear with sinking groundlines.
It is true that some fishermen in Nova Scotia have been experimenting with a sinking or weighted rope on their lobster traps. There is no ban on floating lines in this country, but that isn’t to say that couldn’t change. And this has inspired the fishermen and the scientists to take a proactive approach on the issue. While ship strikes are a major source of mortality for right whales, gear entanglement is another threat to their existence.
