{"id":128539,"date":"2022-11-24T17:58:50","date_gmt":"2022-11-24T22:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=128539"},"modified":"2022-11-24T17:58:50","modified_gmt":"2022-11-24T22:58:50","slug":"spike-in-humpback-deaths-on-haida-gwaii-coast-could-mean-healthy-whale-population-dfo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/spike-in-humpback-deaths-on-haida-gwaii-coast-could-mean-healthy-whale-population-dfo\/","title":{"rendered":"Spike in humpback deaths on Haida Gwaii coast could mean healthy whale population: DFO"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has seen a higher than average number of humpback whale deaths off the coast of Haida Gwaii since October which could be due to a healthy population.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the beginning of October, the DFO has investigated four humpback whale carcasses that have washed onto the shores of Haida Gwaii. <\/span>Two of those whales were shown to have died from blunt force trauma, possibly due to collision with a vessel. <\/span>The other two do not yet have a determined cause of death, as the DFO is still awaiting the results from their necropsies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Marine Mammal Coordinator for the DFO Paul Cottrell explained that they often see an average of 5 to 10 humpback deaths a year, but it is unusual to see so many in one month.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cottrell also explained that there could also be a fifth death, as there was a whale seen floating in Prince Rupert, though they were unable to identify if it was one of the humpbacks that washed up on the island.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While considering the possible explanations for the increase, Cottrell explained that the death rate could be coinciding with a boost in the humpback whale population in the area.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the past 10 years, there has been an uptick in humpback numbers in the islands' in-shore waters. Cottrell says that this could be due to a bigger krill population, or indicative of a healthy ecosystem.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a result of a greater population, Cottrell said that there has also been more interaction between the whales and different fishing gear, leading to entanglements, or vessel collisions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Cottrell, investigating these humpback deaths could help the DFO figure out management techniques whether or not the deaths are caused by humans. T<\/span>he DFO urges the public to call their Marine Mammal Incident hotline at 1-800-465-4336 to report any beached carcasses or collisions with vessels.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Listen to the CFNR story with Paul Cottrell below:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has seen a higher than average number of humpback whale deaths off the coast of Haida Gwaii since October which could be due to a healthy population.\u00a0 Since the beginning of October, the DFO has investigated four humpback whale carcasses that have washed onto the shores of Haida…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":128604,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57,222],"tags":[19719,8575,21085,21086],"radio":[13054],"origine":[280,13049,231],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128539"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128539"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128629,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128539\/revisions\/128629"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128539"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=128539"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=128539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}