Icebreaker dispatched to northeast N.B. as part of right whale protection plan
HALIFAX — A Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker has been called in to smash through pack ice off the northeast coast of New Brunswick in an unusual bid to help the critically endangered North Atlantic right whales expected to make their way to Canadian waters later this spring.
The goal is to allow local snow crab fishermen to complete their work in the Gulf of St. Lawrence earlier than usual, which should reduce the number of ship strikes and entanglements with fishing gear that killed so many whales last year.
The federal government’s decision to move up the start date for the snow crab season in the Gulf was announced last month by Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who also unveiled a series of other measures to save the lumbering mammals from extinction.
On Wednesday, the coast guard confirmed that the Sir William Alexander, a light icebreaker, had already helped clear ice from Shippagan harbour, on the north side of New Brunswick’s Acadian Peninsula.