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Please send comments by Monday March 7, 2016, to help Belugas in
Canada
The largest
population of Belugas in the world is at Churchill, on Hudson's Bay,
in northern Canada, with thousands of Belugas.
The government wants
your comments, to have the best boating rules and the best plan to protect these Belugas.
Here is a sample
letter to the Manitoba government. Change it or copy it into an email:
wildlife@gov.mb.ca
I support safe interactions between Belugas and
humans. People around the world know that many Belugas in Churchill choose to
enjoy music from boats. Belugas are intelligent and curious, and deserve to
decide how much interaction to have. To keep interactions safe:
1. Require cages around propellers, to protect Belugas
from cuts. Some boats already use them (p.11), but the draft has no rules.
2. Enforce a speed limit when Belugas are within 400
meters. The draft has no speed limit. Speed limits have saved lives of right
whales.
3. Provide a seasonal floating pier where people can
see Belugas, without any noise or disturbance from boats. The map on page 16
shows many Belugas swim close to shore, where a pier can be.
4. Use different buoys to mark:
(A) areas where boats
may slow down and wait for Belugas to come close if they want to,
(B) areas where boats
may not go, so Belugas can choose privacy, and
(C) areas where boats
may go but need to avoid Belugas.
. . Belugas will associate different buoys with different
activities by boats. Time will tell how many Belugas choose each area. The
draft asks boats always to stay more than 100 meters away from Belugas. If
Manitoba keeps Belugas that far away, so people can barely see them, the
Belugas will lose interactions which interest them, and people will visit
Churchill less and visit captive Belugas more, which is not as enriching.
Click here to email these comments by Monday March 7, 2016 (or short version if
this works better in your email program, or cut and paste the lines above). You
can also sign the petitions on Change.org
and ThePetitionSite (Care2). Hundreds of people
around the world are signing these petitions. Many of them, and their friends,
are potential tourists to Churchill if the Belugas are treated well. So far,
26% of signatures are from the USA, Germany 14%, UK 9%, Netherlands 5%, Italy
4%, Canada 4%, France 4%, Belgium 4%, Australia 3%, Austria 2%, Brazil 2%,
Spain 2%, and other countries 20%.
World-wide, people
know that in Churchill, Belugas come to boats which play music. You can see
them in these videos:
Cello youtu.be/iL6jcT7jAcI
This shows a cage around the propeller, like our Comment 1 above. Having the cage continue behind the propeller would help too.
Beatles cbc.ca/news/technology/Beluga-cam-captures-churchill-s-playful-magical-whales-1.2742982
Flute youtu.be/US6McpEtKSs
More flute youtu.be/ZzN7ejHmVAg
More cello youtu.be/pxpIxtfSU6E
Flute on Chinese TV youtu.be/884V4o21nu0
At 11:49 this Chinese TV broadcast shows Churchill Belugas listening to flute.
In all these examples Belugas came to the boat and
stayed with it, by their own choice.
These
are intelligent, curious creatures. They have shown they like to approach
people in boats. They deserve to have their choices honored, safely. If
Manitoba keeps Belugas away from people, the Belugas will lose interactions
which interest them, and people's only alternative will be to watch captive
Belugas, which is not as enriching.
Belugas
deserve a choice of areas where
Belugas can approach boats (A), or be completely separate from boats (B). In
the approachable (A) areas, boats would be required to have propeller cages, go
slowly, and maybe to have silent electric engines, so arrivals and departures would
be quiet. Time will tell how many Belugas choose each area. Any areas where
humans need boating access, would be defined as (C), where boats do avoid
Belugas where possible, and have speed limits. The areas need distinct buoys,
not just lines on charts, so Belugas can see the buoys and associate the
different buoys with the different activities of the boats.
Rules
on boating would be set by the Canadian federal government, not by Manitoba,
but Manitoba can speak up for the rules it wants. The draft plan approvingly
cites federal guidelines in Quebec which keep boats 100 meters
away from whales everywhere, and have no quiet spots where Belugas can avoid
boats completely. Those guidelines in Quebec do not protect whales, since they
do not require propeller guards or enforceable speed limits, and do not have
any areas where whales can avoid boats. In fact Quebec whale-watching boats and
researchers pursue some whales wherever they are, and come right up to the
100-meter limit.
Speed limits protect whales in parts of Alaska,
Florida and
Georgia. In Florida and Georgia speed limits eliminated
deaths from ship strikes. Fines, and letters which compared compliant and
non-compliant ships, were the most effective enforcement.
Voluntary limits have reduced speeds in Quebec,
but they reduce deaths from ship strikes by only 36-39%.
Canada
has exclusion zones to protect fish in the Atlantic,
Newfoundland
and Labrador. Belugas move in and out of estuaries daily, so a small
exclusion zone might not serve their needs. The Nelson estuary has more Belugas
than Churchill or Seal River, and is undeveloped, so it might offer a place
where Belugas are undisturbed. Or any estuary can be divided down the middle,
with half undisturbed.
Manitoba
understands that boats and propellers can hurt Belugas. Their only solution is
to endorse federal guidelines which would keep boats so far away that Belugas
and people can barely see each other, but not far enough to let Belugas ignore
the boats. It is better to have propeller
guards, buoys and speed limits to protect Belugas, while allowing the
interactions that Churchill is famous for, when Belugas choose interaction.
The specific wording in Manitoba's
plan can be changed to serve Belugas and people better:
|
Old: "The Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ whale-watching guidelines
applied in other regions suggest that boaters use a slow speed if within 400
m of whales and idle when they come within 100 m of them (http://www.qc.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/mammiferes-mammals/bonnespratiquesbestpractices-eng.html)." |
Better: "A seasonal pier would
increase Beluga tourism at minimal impact. For boats, the Department of
Fisheries and Oceans should consider requiring propeller guards and speed
limits, and distinguishing areas where boats may quietly stay with Belugas,
from areas (perhaps the Nelson estuary) where boats must stay away." |
The current federal guidelines in Quebec include among other comments, "Avoid approaching any
whale closer than 100 m or getting in its path. If your boat accidentally comes
closer than 100 m to a whale, stop or keep the boat stationary and let the
animal pass."
The current federal regulations
say, quite vaguely,
"7. No person shall disturb a marine mammal except when fishing for marine
mammals under the authority of these Regulations."
An amendment to the federal regulations, proposed
in 2012, and not
yet adopted, would define
"disturb a marine
mammal" to include "7.(2)(b) swim
with it or otherwise interact with it" or 7.(3) "approaching" it with a vessel closer than 50 meters
in the Churchill estuary and Seal River.
The tour
companies point out they break that distance
standard as soon as they pull away from the dock.
The "no interaction" standard would prohibit playing
music for Belugas in Churchill, even when they like it. The proposal supports
its prohibition by saying, "interaction with humans may interrupt or prevent marine
mammals from completing normal life processes (e.g. mating, calving and
nursing) and threaten the survival of individual animals." The proposed amendment
recognizes that some interactions are a problem, not all, and it could be more sensitive
in distinguishing harmful from enriching interactions. A full prohibition denies
marine mammals' normal life processes of curiosity and exploration of the modern
world.
Better protection of marine mammals would be created by propeller
cages, speed limits (especially for large ships which they propose to exempt), forbidding
physical contact, and zoning areas with and without boating access. Letting mammals
choose interaction with responsible boats or with people on a pier lets marine
mammals pursue what interests them and preserves wild tourism as a better
alternative than aquariums.
The amendment already exempts 7.(4)(a) commercial vessels in transit
and 7.(4)(b) licensed seal observers.
Language can be added to exempt "7.(4)(c) commercial tour boats and
web-broadcasting boats in the Churchill estuary and Seal River, using propeller
cages and not exceeding 6 knots, which would also be allowed to play music no
louder than Beluga calls." Beluga calls are
about 100 dB, using the underwater decibel scale, which is different from the
scale in air.
Federal rules are
not officially open for comment, but you can write to elected officials or Fisheries
and Oceans, fax 1-613-954-1407.
You can comment on the Manitoba plan
until March 7, 2016 to wildlife@gov.mb.ca
or mail
to:
Attention: Beluga Habitat Sustainability Plan
Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship
Wildlife Branch
Box 24, 200 Saulteaux Crescent
Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3J 3W3
or fax to
(204) 945-3077
To see Manitoba's draft plan, click gov.mb.ca/conservation/wildlife/Belugahabitat.html
Beluga Habitat Sustainability Plan for the Seal,
Churchill and Nelson River Estuaries
Proposed rules for boats, page 8
Full report, 30 pages
Quebec rules
cited by report
Most Beluga tourism is based in Churchill. The report also applies
to Seal River, 45 kilometers north, and Port Nelson, 200 kilometers south.
For more information on the Manitoba Belugas, click dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/species-especes/beluga-west-beluga-ouest-p-eng.htm.