Right whale spotted near Halifax Harbour

Tonya Wimmer, executive director with the Marine Animal Response Society (MARS), has seen her fair share of pictures of North Atlantic right whales, but even she gasped when she saw footage of the mammal swimming near the shore close to the Halifax Harbour.

“Right whales can go everywhere,” she told CTV News Atlantic’s Todd Battis during an interview on Monday. “They’ve been far up rivers sometimes, they can go close to shore if they so choose. This is probably one of the closest (sightings).”

Any sightings of a right whale can be valuable for research. Wimmer said MARS sent the footage of the whale to its colleagues in the United States.

“They’ll get an idea of its condition,” she said. “They know who it is. It’s a three-year-old called 5104.”

Wimmer noted it can be hard to relocate right whales after the initial sighting, which can make helping entangled ones more difficult. She credits fishers in the Maritimes for leading the way in finding techniques to minimize the risks for whales.

“It shows good faith on both sides to come to the table,” she said. “It’s a huge step in terms of conservation. The fishers in our communities are right at the forefront.”

Reflecting on the overall state of the whales, Wimmer said they remain critically endangered.

“Quite a few babies were born (this season), but they did lose a few, which is not a good sign,” she said. “They’re their own a bit.”

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