Final report on right whale deaths still weeks away, say AVC pathologists

The two P.E.I. pathologists working to determine what killed six of the 13 right whalesfound dead so farthis summer say it will still be weeks before their final report is complete.

Atlantic Veterinary College pathologistsPierre-YvesDaoustand LauraBourquesaidtrying to determine what killed the endangered whales has been their main focus since late June, when they led thenecropsies of three of the six right whales discovered dead at the time.

But they saidthere's still a lot of writing, research, and discussions with other groupsthat needs to take place.

'Not straightforward'

"This is not straightforward,and we don't want to rush into anything," Bourquesaid."If we get it wrong, it affects many communities and peoples around the Maritimes."

"If we say something that isn't right, and all of a sudden we have to close down the fisheries for whatever reason, that would be awful. We want to make sure that what we see is correct," she added.

If we get it wrong, it affects many communities and peoples around the Maritimes.- Laura Bourque, AVC pathologist

The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans has already closed or restricted some crab fisheries in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where the majority of the dead whales were found. It's also issued notices to fishing vessels to slow down.

That's after preliminary necropsy resultsrevealed some of the deadwhales suffered blunt trauma and bore signs of chronic entanglement, likely from fishing gear.

Biotoxins, chronic disease could be ruled out

ButBourque said experts still can't say definitively what killed any of the whales.

"We know entanglement is an issue right now, and we're wondering about boat strikes. But it'sgoing to be a while before we can say anything definitive," she said.

"In our report we can say 'yes or no there was evidence of trauma.' But then we need to pair that with were there even ships in the area at that time?"

Bourque saidshe and Daoust, along with pathologists from theUniversity of Montreal, who led two of the necropsies in Quebec, are still waiting on the results from diagnostic testing of tissue samples from the whales.

She saidthose results may help them rule out biotoxinsor chronic disease as possible causes of death.

Daoustaddedthat even after that information is known,they'll still need to complete and compilesix individual necropsy reports.

"Then we need to provide a document that will summarize all those findings onthose six whales to see if there are common factors among the six of them," he said.

'Unprecedented event'

Daoust saidthe final report will also include research from other scientists and agencies on the whales patterns, as well as shipping and fishing activities in the Gulf.

"Because it is an unprecedented event, this is something that will be important years and years down the road," he said.

"People will need to go back to this report and have all the information available so, it is important that we produce a report that tries to answer all aspects of this mortality event."

Daoustwouldn't put a timeline on exactly when the report will be complete.

Whenever it is finished, he saiditwill be passed on to Fisheries and Oceans Canada to help with its efforts to prevent future die-offs.

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