Recovered Gear Analysis of North Atlantic Right Whale Calf of Eg #1812 (Born in 2023)

Executive summary

The 2023 calf of Eg #1812 (“War”) was last seen gear free on February 16, 2024 in US waters and was first observed entangled in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence 18.5 nm east of Miscou Island on June 22, 2024. Fishing gear was removed by the Campobello Whale Rescue Team (CWRT) on three separate occasions from late June to mid-July, 2024, with support from Équipe de Désempêtrement du Golfe (EDG) on two of the occasions.

Satellite telemetry buoys were attached to the trailing rope to facilitate finding the whale to undertake gear removal efforts. The first two locations where rope was removed were off Miscou Island, and the third was in the St. Lawrence Estuary near Rimouski, Quebec.

In total, 207 ft (63 m) of 5/8 inch diameter rope was removed. The longest section was removed on July 10, after which the whale appeared to be gear free, or nearly gear free. Campobello Whale Rescue Team’s past experiences supported that if any gear remained on the whale, it might be loose enough that it would be able to shed the remaining rope itself.

Orange and yellow twine segments were interlaced along a rope section removed on July 10. The coloured twine marking spanned 6.5 inches (16.5 cm). The observed gear marking met DFO Conditions of Licence and is consistent with Snow Crab Fishing Area 12 (CFA 12). No other gear markings were observed in the other sections of rope removed. Available evidence indicates the whale became entangled in either actively fished or ghost gear.

Conclusion of gear origin: Canadian Snow Crab Area 12 (southern Gulf of St. Lawrence).

Event details

ID and/or Date: June 25, July 2 & 10, 2024
Event type (stranding, death, disentanglement): Disentanglement in Canadian waters
Species: North Atlantic right whale
Individual: 2023 calf of Eg #1812 (“War”). The individual “2023calfof1812” (the internationally recognized reference at this time) will be assigned a catalog number by the New England Aquarium. At the time the whale was sighted entangled it was an independent yearling.
Last seen gear free: February 16, 2024 in Southeast USA
Status: Nearly, if not all of the rope was removed. A limpet tag was attached by DFO Science to the whale after the third disentanglement attempt in the St. Lawrence Estuary to be able to monitor its movements, however a visual of the whale was not obtained and the disentanglement team was not able to confirm with 100% certainty it was gear free. The last position from the limpet tag was on July 21, 2024 and by this time the whale was east of Miscou Island.
Conclusion of gear origin: Canadian Snow Crab Area 12 (southern Gulf of St. Lawrence).
Active or ghost gear: Gear was either actively fished or ghost gear. The whale was last seen gear free on February 16, 2024 and first seen with gear on June 22, 2024. The fishery’s opening day was April 1, 2024. The entanglement therefore occurred between April 1 and June 22, 2024. During this period there was active gear in the water with this colour gear marking and so it could have become entangled in active or ghost gear.
Harvester submitted Lost Gear Report: Not applicable

Recovered gear

Floats: None
Traps: None
Trap tags: None
Buoy line: In total, 207 ft and 4 inches (63.2 m) of 5/8 inch diameter light green rope was recovered. Total length of float (positively buoyant) rope removed was 97 ft and 4 inches (29.7 m) and total length of sink (negatively buoyant) rope removed was 106 ft and 10 inches (32.6 m), the latter characterized by beaded lead running the length of two of the three strands.
Descriptions of the eight sections of gear removed: The ropes recovered were consistent with a single entanglement event. Ends of each section of rope were either frayed or severed.

June 25 (35 nm east of Miscou Island, New Brunswick): 5/8 inch float rope (16 ft, 10 in; 5.1 m) with yellow tracer (Fig. 1).
July 2 (12 nm east of Miscou Island, New Brunswick): 5/8 inch float rope (8 ft 11 in; 2.7 m) with yellow tracer (Fig. 2).
July 10 (St. Lawrence Estuary near Rimouski, Quebec): Rope sections were bundled in a mass when removed by CWRT and were separated into six sections at the C&P Detachment on Campobello Island (Fig. 3).
Sections A-F (in descending length) (Fig. 4): Total rope (A-F) removed on July 10: 181 ft 7 in. (55.3 m) which included 72 ft 7 in. (22.1 m) float and 106 ft (32.3 m) sink rope (Fig. 5)

A: 80 feet 2 inches (24.4 m) of 5/8 in. sink rope with a black tracer.
B: 34 feet 4 inches (10.5 m) of 5/8 in. float rope with a yellow tracer. A DFO gear mark (Fig. 6) was located 70 inches (1.8 m) from one end (see below for description).
C: 19 feet 5 inches (5.9 m) of 5/8 in. sink rope with a black tracer
D: 19 feet 1 inch (5.8 m) of 5/8 in. sink rope with a black tracer
E: 15 feet, 10 inches (4.8 m) of 5/8 in. rope that was comprised of 5 feet 1 inch (1.5 m) of float rope (indicated with a yellow tracer) and 10 feet 9 inches (3.3 m) of sink rope (indicated with a black tracer). The float and sink rope sections were connected during manufacturing. This part of the rope was unraveled permitting a clear view of how the manufacturer connected the yellow and black tracers (Fig. 6) as well as the attachment site of the beaded lead (Fig. 7).
F: 12 feet, 9 inches (3.9 m) of 5/8 in. float rope with a yellow tracer.

Ground line: None
Line markings: Coloured twines interlaced among rope strands were present in Section B of the rope removed on July 10. An orange twine and a yellow twine were interlaced along 6.5 inches (16.5 cm) of the rope (Fig. 8). DFO gear markings are to be at minimum 15 cm in length. The way that the orange and yellow twines were interlaced suggest the rope was first used by the harvester in 2018 or earlier. In discussions with industry members, a harvester commonly inserts two twines of different colours side-by-side when introducing a gear mark into their buoy line as there is no reason to open the strands twice to insert a gear mark. However, the orange and yellow twines were inserted separately and albeit parallel they follow different routes through the rope. In 2018 and 2019, a single orange twine was the required colour gear marking in CFA 12. In 2020, colour gear markings were updated to include an orange and yellow mark for CFA 12. Presumably, in 2020 the harvester added yellow twine to a rope that already was marked with an orange twine. Discussion with members of the fishing industry indicated this was very plausible.

Ground line: None
Line markings: Coloured twines interlaced among rope strands were present in Section B of the rope removed on July 10. An orange twine and a yellow twine were interlaced along 6.5 inches (16.5 cm) of the rope (Fig. 8). DFO gear markings are to be at minimum 15 cm in length. The way that the orange and yellow twines were interlaced suggest the rope was first used by the harvester in 2018 or earlier. In discussions with industry members, a harvester commonly inserts two twines of different colours side-by-side when introducing a gear mark into their buoy line as there is no reason to open the strands twice to insert a gear mark. However, the orange and yellow twines were inserted separately and albeit parallel they follow different routes through the rope. In 2018 and 2019, a single orange twine was the required colour gear marking in CFA 12. In 2020, colour gear markings were updated to include an orange and yellow mark for CFA 12. Presumably, in 2020 the harvester added yellow twine to a rope that already was marked with an orange twine. Discussion with members of the fishing industry indicated this was very plausible.

Contact with harvester

Not applicable. There were no other gear identification marks other than the coloured gear marking.

Contact with disentanglement team

On June 25, CWRT noted that a heavy object was trailing at depth behind the swimming animal. When this descending taut rope was cut, the whale’s swimming speed noticeably increased. Ten more cuts were made during the other two disentanglement events. Eight cuts were made on July 2 and two cuts were made on July 10. After this, there was little remaining rope, if any, attached to the yearling, and their previous whale rescue experiences suggested that the animal would free itself from any remaining entanglement.

Contact with fishing industry

On August 8, 2024, meetings were held in Shippagan with representatives of the Acadian Crabbers Association, L’Association des pêcheurs professionnels and the Maritimes Fishermen’s Union. Each group greatly appreciated the transparency and opportunity to view the removed gear. They concurred with the assessment that the gear was used in the CFA 12 snow crab fishery.