Whalesafe Gear Adoption Fund

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) undertakes a variety of activities to reduce harm to large whales from entanglements in fishing gear, under the following three approaches:

1. Entanglement Prevention – removing and reducing fishing gear and rope in areas of whale presence or aggregation. Long-standing management practices, such as fishing season and trap limits, seasonal and temporary closures based on right whale presence, and removal of ghost gear from the ocean, help prevent whale interaction with fishing gear.
2. Entanglement Alleviation – reducing the severity and duration of the entanglements that occur despite measures to prevent entanglement. Incorporating whalesafe gear, including low breaking-strength, or ‘weak’, components designed to part when a whale becomes entangled in fishing gear.
3. Entanglement Response – assisting large whales in distress, in collaboration with trained expert responders and incident response networks under the umbrella of the Marine Mammal Response Program.

In February 2020, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard announced new requirements for non-tended, fixed gear fisheries in Atlantic Canada and Quebec to adopt gear modifications to alleviate entanglements by the end of 2022. DFO’s Whalesafe Gear Adoption Fund (WSGF) is a new way to support this commitment to reducing harm and risk of harm to whales from commercial fishing activities. The fund consists of $20M in contribution agreement funding over two years (2021-2023) to support projects that advance the adoption of methods to prevent and alleviate whale entanglement.

Whalesafe gear includes but is not limited to the following: 

• Low breaking-strength or ‘weak’ rope, and/or various links that can be incorporated, to result in 1,700 lb or lower breaking strength;
• Equipment that permits hauling of buoy lines that incorporate low breaking strength rope and/or other weak components (e.g., hydraulic set limiter);
• Ropeless or rope-on-demand systems; and,
• Gear location marking systems supporting the operationalization of ‘ropeless’ fishing and the interoperability of different systems.

The Government of Canada is responsible for safeguarding our waters and managing Canada's fisheries and oceans resources. Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) helps to ensure healthy and sustainable aquatic ecosystems, and supports economic growth and innovation in the marine and fisheries sectors. DFO works with many partners to reduce interactions between whales and commercial fishing activity, to support healthy whale populations and sustainable fisheries.

Objectives

The primary objective of the WSGF is to support activities that will help harvesters adopt gear designed to prevent and alleviate whale entanglements into commercial fishery operations in Atlantic Canada and Quebec by the end of 2022, or before fishing seasons open in 2023. Funding is available to commercial fish harvester organizations and other partners in Atlantic Canada and Quebec to purchase, test, refine, and operationalize whalesafe fishing gear, devices, and systems that will prevent and alleviate whale entanglement.

Activities to be supported may include refinement leading to adoption of known ropeless or rope-on-demand gear systems and gear location marking technology necessary for its implementation; purchase, trials and adoption of low breaking-strength or ‘weak’ gear devices or components; and work by manufacturers to perfect whalesafe gear and technology in the final stages toward commercialization.

Expected Results

The fund will provide up to $10 million in each of two years to support projects that advance the adoption of existing whalesafe gear, devices and systems in commercial fisheries, with the objective of bringing them to operational use by 2023 fishing seasons. The fund will support projects that reflect the priorities listed below; these priorities are listed in ranked order, with proposals to be scored accordingly.

• Priority 1: Purchase and adoption of existing low breaking strength or ‘weak’ gear and devices designed to alleviate whale entanglements, and of existing ‘ropeless’ gear, rope-on-demand gear, and related components designed to prevent whale entanglements.
• Priority 2: Purchase and tests, trials, or pilots of whalesafe gear, gear components, and/or gear configurations that have been designed to prevent and alleviate whale entanglements, and of ‘ropeless’ systems and associated gear location marking technology. The fund will support trials and related adaptation of existing gear, devices and systems, to be tested under operational conditions reflecting those present in fixed-gear fisheries in Atlantic Canada and Quebec, so they can be adopted by the end of 2022 or in 2023 fishing seasons.
• Priority 3: Manufacturing to achieve commercial availability – develop and/or refine Canadian sources of whalesafe gear and gear components that can be tested in 2022 fishing seasons, provided they will be commercially available for 2023 fishing seasons, supporting domestic production capacity.

Log in with Google

OR

Get Started to Apply