The federal government will spend $110,000 over two years to train employees in rescuing whales and other marine mammals in distress, citing urgent threats to endangered species under the Species At Risk Act, says Blacklock's Reporter.The Department of Fisheries awarded the Campobello Whale Rescue Team of Welshpool, N.B., a contract to deliver classroom and hands-on “disentanglement training” that includes instruction in personal safety, animal assessment and behaviour.“There is a threat of these aquatic species going to extinction if immediate action is not taken to rescue them,” reads a federal contract notice. The department said its staff have a duty to assist whales and sea turtles that are entangled, stranded or otherwise injured in Canadian waters..The contract is part of the department’s Conservation and Protection Directorate program, which coordinates with non-governmental organizations and conservation groups to track and respond to marine mammal incidents including ship strikes and entanglements.Under the Species At Risk Act, beluga and killer whales are listed as threatened. Atlantic blue, northern bottlenose, right and sei whales are classified as endangered. Bowhead, grey, humpback and Sowerby’s beaked whales are designated as species of special concern.Whaling has a long history in Canada, where whales were once harvested for lamp oil, bone and baleen used to make corsets and umbrellas. The last commercial whale hunts ended in 1966 on the Pacific coast and 1972 in Atlantic Canada.A 2002 federal report estimated that BC’s commercial whaling industry killed more than 24,000 whales in the 20th century. Another report from 1962 noted annual hunting of up to 1,200 belugas in the Arctic, with whales often driven into shallow inlets and stranded by the tide.
