(Courtesy of Department of Fisheries and Oceans)
A pod of North Atlantic right whales have caused Roseway Basin off the coast of southern Nova Scotia to be temporarily closed by DFO.
The area is subject to dynamic closure protocol. Once a whale is detected, the area around the whale is closed for a 15-day period.
Adam Burns, Director General of fisheries resource management, discussed whether the closure will affect the upcoming lobster fishing season, which starts on Monday.
“Our objective is to get fisheries to open without any closed areas at the beginning of the season so that the fishery can proceed as normally as possible,” says Burns.
Burns says that if the whales are still in the area once the season begins, small portions of lobster fishing areas 33 and 34 will be closed.
“In fishing area 33 and 34 we’re going to try to do an aerial survey,” says Burns. “Should we not detect any right whales in the area then we will be in a position to re-open those areas in advance of dumping day on Monday.”
