Entangled Whale Sighted Near Miscou Island, New Brunswick
July 13, 2018

North Atlantic right whale #3312 near Miscou Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence with fresh wounds caused by an entanglement in fishing gear
Photo credit: NOAA, via Marine Animal Response Society

A badly entangled North Atlantic right whale has been sighted near Miscou Island off the coast of New Brunswick. The whale has been identified as #3312, a male who was born in 2003 to #1612 and is sighted regularly in Canadian waters. He was seen on July 13th by a surveillance flight but they had to go back to refuel and subsequent attempts to find him and launch a rescue effort have not been successful. He was photographed in 2008 with scars from a previous entanglement meaning this is at least the second time he has been entangled in fishing gear and is part of the 59% of North Atlantic right whales who have been entangled at least twice. His mother, #1612, also has scars from an entanglement - further showing the brutal, multi-generational impact of the continued aggression of the fishing industry towards these whales.

We hope that he can either shed the gear on his own or that he's located again and disentangled. If the rope is retrieved then there will be an investigation into what type of fishery it came from and possibly where exactly the trap was located and who owns it. This is the first known entanglement of 2018 in Canadian waters and the first since their new fishing regulations took effect so finding the origin of this gear is particularly important.

Source:
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/search-on-for-entangled-right-whale-off-n-b-as-humpback-freed-from-rope-1.4015532