Listed Species

North Atlantic Right Whales (Eubalaena glacialis) are among the most endangered cetaceans, with approximately 325 individuals remaining in the world. As a result, extensive effort has been invested in public education in hopes of protecting them from extinction. Currently there are four right whale projects underway at the St. Andrews Biological Station.

• Disturbance to right whales due to vessel activity
• Right whales and fishing gear: assessing risk of entanglement in the Bay of Fundy.
• Creation of an East Coast whale sightings database
• Distribution of North Atlantic right whales in Canadian waters

Right Whale Research Coordination Meetings are held annually in March at the St Andrews Biological Station, at which research efforts in the Bay of Fundy are discussed and coordinated for the upcoming field season.

More than 80,000 small cetaceans (porpoises and dolphins) are killed every year in coastal waters around the world. Fishing is a major contributor to this mortality. Several projects are underway at the St Andrews Biological Station in an effort to reduce the by-catch rate of the Bay of Fundy Harbour Porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the gillnet fisheries.

• Acoustic alarms
• Increasing the reflective properties of gillnets

Cusk (Brosme brosme), a member of the family Gadidae, is a solitary, sedentary, slow swimming species, found throughout the North Atlantic. In Canadian waters, it is most common in the Gulf of Maine and Western Scotian Shelf . Recently there has been a decline in catch rates of cusk in DFO bottom trawl survey data and in commercial landings. In May 2003 COSEWIC designated cusk as threatened.

In order to better manage our activities with respect to cusk, we must first learn more about their basic biology and the threats to their survival. With this in mind, the species at Risk group initiated two projects on cusk in 2003.

• Impact of incidental fishing on Cusk and potential for mitigation
• Life history and ecology of Cusk: implications for recovery

The Northern Bottlenose Whale (Hyperoodon ampullatus) inhabits submarine canyons along the Scotian Shelf. Approximately 130 of these animals are found year round in "the Gully" an underwater canyon on the Scotian Shelf. The Gully was designated a whale sanctuary in 1994 and is in the process of receiving full status as a Marine Protected Area.

Through a Joint Project Agreement, researchers at Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Dalhousie University are seeking to describe the genetic relationship of bottlenose whales in the Gully in comparison to bottlenose whales found in northern Labrador. This project will provide important insights into aspects of the population structure of the Northern Bottlenose whale in the western North Atlantic.