Recovery Strategy for the North Pacific Right Whale (Eubalaena japonica) in Pacific Canadian Waters [Proposed] 2011

North Pacific Right Whale

About the Species at Risk Act Recovery Strategy Series

What is the Species at Risk Act (SARA)?
SARA is the Act developed by the federal government as a key contribution to the common national effort to protect and conserve species at risk in Canada. SARA came into force in 2003, and one of its purposes is “to provide for the recovery of wildlife species that are extirpated, endangered or threatened as a result of human activity.”

What is recovery?
In the context of species at risk conservation, recovery is the process by which the decline of an endangered, threatened, or extirpated species is arrested or reversed, and threats are removed or reduced to improve the likelihood of the species’ persistence in the wild. A species will be considered recovered when its long-term persistence in the wild has been secured.

What is a recovery strategy?
A recovery strategy is a planning document that identifies what needs to be done to arrest or reverse the decline of a species. It sets goals and objectives and identifies the main areas of activities to be undertaken. Detailed planning is done at the action plan stage.

Recovery strategy development is a commitment of all provinces and territories and of three federal agenciesEnvironment Canada, Parks Canada Agency, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada — under the Accord for the Protection of Species at Risk. Sections 37–46 of SARA (www.sararegistry.gc.ca/approach/act/default_e.cfm ) outline both the required content and the process for developing recovery strategies published in this series.

Depending on the status of the species and when it was assessed, a recovery strategy has to be developed within one to two years after the species is added to the List of Wildlife Species at Risk. A period of three to four years is allowed for those species that were automatically listed when SARA came into force.

What’s next?
In most cases, one or more action plans will be developed to define and guide implementation of the recovery strategy. Nevertheless, directions set in the recovery strategy are sufficient to begin involving communities, land users, and conservationists in recovery implementation. Cost-effective measures to prevent the reduction or loss of the species should not be postponed for lack of full scientific certainty.

The series

This series presents the recovery strategies prepared or adopted by the federal government under SARA. New documents will be added regularly as species get listed and as strategies are updated.

To learn more
To learn more about the Species at Risk Act and recovery initiatives, please consult the Species at Risk (SAR) Public Registry (www.sararegistry.gc.ca ).

Recommended citation:

Fisheries and Oceans Canada. 2011. Recovery Strategy for the North Pacific Right Whale (Eubalaena japonica) in Pacific Canadian Waters [Proposed]. Species at Risk Act Recovery Strategy Series. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Ottawa. vii + 51 pp.

Additional copies:

Additional copies can be downloaded from the SARA Public Registry (www.sararegistry.gc.ca).

Cover illustration: A. Denbigh, courtesy of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Également disponible en français sous le titre
«Programme de rétablissement de la baleine noire du Pacifique Nord (Eubalaena japonica) dans les eaux canadiennes du Pacifique»

© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, 2011. All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-1-100-17285-9
Catalogue no. En3-4/80-2011E-PDF

Content (excluding the illustrations) may be used without permission, with appropriate credit to the source.

The North Pacific Right Whale is a marine mammal and is under the responsibility of the federal government. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans is a “competent minister” for aquatic species under the Species at Risk Act (SARA). Since the North Pacific Right Whale may occur in the Gwaii Haanas National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, administered by the Parks Canada Agency, the Minister of the Environment is also a “competent minister” under SARA for this species. The Species at Risk Act (SARA, Section 37) requires the competent ministers to prepare recovery strategies for species listed as extirpated, endangered or threatened, in cooperation and consultation with affected and interested parties. The North Pacific Right Whale was listed as Endangered under Schedule 1 of SARA in 2006. Fisheries and Oceans Canada – Pacific Region, led the development of this recovery strategy, in cooperation and in consultation with the Parks Canada Agency and many individuals, organizations and government agencies (Appendix III).

Success in the conservation of this species depends on the commitment and cooperation of many different constituencies that will be involved in implementing the directions set out in this strategy and will not be achieved by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Parks Canada Agency or any other party alone. This strategy provides advice to jurisdictions and organizations that may be involved or wish to become involved in the recovery of this species. In the spirit of the National Accord for the Protection of Species at Risk, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Minister of Environment invite all responsible jurisdictions and Canadians to join Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Parks Canada Agency in supporting and implementing this strategy for the benefit of the North Pacific Right Whale and Canadian society as a whole. Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Parks Canada Agency will support implementation of this strategy to the extent possible, given available resources and overall responsibility for species at risk conservation.

The goals, objectives and recovery approaches identified in the strategy are based on the best existing knowledge and are subject to modifications resulting from new information. The competent ministers will report on progress within five years.

This strategy will be complemented by one or more action plans that will provide details on specific recovery measures to be taken to support conservation of the species. The competent ministers will take steps to ensure that, to the extent possible; Canadians interested in or affected by these measures will be consulted.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Parks Canada Agency

This document was drafted by Barbara Koot and the 2009/2010 North Pacific Right Whale Recovery Team (see Section 4.2). The foundation for this document (the 2004 “Draft National Recovery Strategy for the North Pacific Right Whale (Eubalaena japonica) in Pacific Canadian Waters”) was written by John Ford, Miriam O, and the 2004 North Pacific Right Whale Recovery Team (see Section 4.1).

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) acknowledges the efforts of the members of the 2004 North Pacific Right Whale Recovery Team (see Section 4.1) who prepared the pre-SARA “Draft National Recovery Strategy for the North Pacific Right Whale (Eubalaena japonica) in Pacific Canadian Waters”, the foundation for the development of this document. DFO also acknowledges the members of the 2009/2010 North Pacific Right Whale Recovery Team (see Section 4.2) who revised the draft that was prepared in 2003/2004 as per SARA Recovery Strategy content requirements, updated with new information, and provided valuable information, expertise, and perspective.

Input from the public, scientific experts, non-governmental environmental organizations, government agencies, and First Nations during the consultation process is also acknowledged and greatly appreciated (see Section 4.2).

A strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is conducted on all SARA recovery planning documents, in accordance with the Cabinet Directive on the Environmental Assessment of Policy, Plan and Program Proposals. The purpose of a SEA is to incorporate environmental considerations into the development of public policies, plans, and program proposals to support environmentally sound decision-making.

Recovery planning is intended to benefit species at risk and biodiversity in general. However, it is recognized that strategies may also inadvertently lead to environmental effects beyond the intended benefits. The planning process based on national guidelines directly incorporates consideration of all environmental effects, with a particular focus on possible impacts upon non-target species or habitats. The results of the SEA are incorporated directly into the strategy itself, but are also summarized below.

This recovery strategy will clearly benefit the environment by promoting the recovery of the North Pacific Right Whale. The potential for the strategy to inadvertently lead to adverse effects on other species was considered. The SEA concluded that this strategy will clearly benefit the environment and will not entail any significant adverse effects.

SARA defines residence as: a dwelling-place, such as a den, nest or other similar area or place, that is occupied or habitually occupied by one or more individuals during all or part of their life cycles, including breeding, rearing, staging, wintering, feeding or hibernating [Subsection 2(1)].

Residence descriptions, or the rationale for why the residence concept does not apply to a given species, are posted on the SARA Public Registry: www.sararegistry.gc.ca/sar/recovery/residence_e.cfm.

A draft “National Recovery Strategy for the North Pacific Right Whale in Pacific Canadian Waters” was prepared in 2003-04 by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, with input from other stakeholders and interested parties. This current recovery strategy fulfills requirements under SARA and provides updated information regarding North Pacific Right Whales in Pacific Canadian waters and adjacent waters, as well as re-focused recovery measures for the species.

The North Pacific Right Whale, Eubalaena japonica (Lacépède 1818; Rosenbaum et al. 2000b), is a large, robust, baleen whale, characterized by a stocky body, black colouration (sometimes with white patches on the ventral surface), lack of a dorsal fin, strongly bowed lower lip, and callosities on the head region (Kenney 2002). The North Pacific Right Whale filter feeds almost exclusively on copepods, which can be gathered at the surface by skim feeding or at depth during feeding dives.

What is known about North Pacific Right Whale distribution is determined from historical whaling data (1785-1913) and rare sightings in the post-whaling era. Analysis of whaling data suggests that in the summer, right whale density was high in the Gulf of Alaska and along the eastern coast of Kamchatka, around the Kuril Islands and northward into the Sea of Okhotsk, and in the Sea of Japan, and that densities were lower in offshore regions (Josephson et al. 2008). The North Pacific Right Whale is considered to have eastern and western sub-populations, at least with regard to concentrations on feeding grounds (Brownell et al. 2001). Whaling data show that historically, right whales were present in Pacific Canadian waters from April to October (Townsend 1935, Scarff 1986, Brownell et al. 2001, Clapham et al. 2004). The current presence of this species in Pacific Canadian waters has not been confirmed due to insufficient data. Only seven right whales were taken by B.C. whalers (1900-1951), who worked mainly in coastal waters. The last right whale sighting that may have been in Pacific Canadian waters (due to the range of coordinates given for this sighting, there is a possibility that it occurred outside of Pacific Canadian waters) was in 1970 from a Japanese scoutboat west of the Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) (Wada 1975).

North Pacific Right Whales were hunted intensively from 1835 to 1900, when the species was depleted throughout its range, and was no longer a principal target for commercial whaling (Scarff 1986, Scarff 2001). Although there is little information on pre-exploitation abundance of North Pacific Right Whales, it is estimated that the population size was at least 11,000 animals (NMFS 1991) and possibly 26,500 to 37,000 animals (Scarff 2001). Although right whales were first protected from commercial whaling by the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling in 1935, and then by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1949 (Scarff 1986, Donovan 1992), North Pacific Right Whales were subject to illegal Soviet whaling between 1961 and 1979 (Brownell et al. 2001). This species has shown very few signs of recovery, likely because of the relatively recent end of illegal Soviet whaling (Brownell et al. 2001, Clapham and Ivashchenk 2009).

At this time, very little information is available on current abundance, population trends, seasonal distribution or movements of the North Pacific Right Whale. Estimates of recent population abundance and trends are speculative, being based upon general patterns of sightings (e.g. Berzin and Yabokov 1978, Braham and Rice 1984, Berzin and Vladimirov 1989, Vladimirov 1994, Vladimirov 2000 cited in Brownell et al. 2001). However, it has been postulated that the current population in the eastern North Pacific may number in the tens of animals (LeDuc et al. 2001, Clapham et al. 2005, NMFS 2006). First abundance estimates for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands combined, of 31 and 28 individuals (photographic and genotypic data respectively, using mark-recapture analysis), are not thought to be much below the total population abundance of the eastern North Pacific (Wade et al. 2010).

Historically, commercial whaling was the principal threat to the North Pacific Right Whale, but is no longer a threat today. Due to the general lack of information on right whale occurrence in Pacific Canadian waters, threats to the species cannot be clearly identified. Based on information from other right whale populations around the world, and other baleen whale species, current potential threats that could affect the North Pacific Right Whale are identified as marine traffic and ship strikes, entanglement in fishing gear, noise, and pollution. In addition to these threats, biologically limiting factors could complicate the recovery of the North Pacific Right Whale. The primary limiting factor affecting the survival of the North Pacific Right Whale is likely small population size, potentially resulting in inbreeding depression and depensation. Other limiting factors are the life history characteristics of the species (late age of sexual maturity, long reproductive interval, and long life-span), climate change, and the effect of climate change on food supply. Identified knowledge gaps are population structure and genetics; life history parameters and population dynamics; current occurrence, abundance, distribution, migratory behaviour and habitat use in Pacific Canadian waters; threats and human influences; and critical habitat.

Research is needed to confirm the presence of the species in Pacific Canadian waters before recovery and population and distribution objectives can be fully defined and addressed. Once the species’ presence is confirmed, the remaining objectives will focus primarily on research to gather basic information on abundance, distribution, habitat, and threats. The long-term goal of this recovery strategy is to increase the probability of survival, and attain long-term viability, of the North Pacific Right Whale in Pacific Canadian waters. The objectives and associated knowledge gaps are to be addressed through multi-species research activities expected to benefit baleen whales and other species at risk. It is important to note that for long-lived species such as the right whale, it may take many decades before increases in this population can be observed, and even longer before recovery is achieved. It is therefore critical that the long-term nature of this strategy is recognized in the evaluation of the objectives and supporting strategies.

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