Great news! The beluga that was trapped in the Nepisiguit River in New Brunswick and relocated to the St. Lawrence Estuary on June 15, 2017, has been resighted! During this unprecedented operation, the animal was captured and flown to Rivi\u00e8re-du-Loup before being subsequently released into the waters of the St. Lawrence near Cacouna. The St. Lawrence beluga population is endangered. The operation aimed to determine the feasibility and challenges of such a relocation operation, as well as to assess the chances of success for a solitary young beluga to reintegrate a social group over the long term and contribute to the recovery of the population.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to the images that have been transmitted to us, the Nepisiguit beluga appears to be in good health. He appears vigorous and is swimming well,\u201d confirms veterinarian specialist Dr. St\u00e9phane Lair of the Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al\u2019s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.<\/p>\n
The team was surprised, however, that the animal was resighted far from its release site in the summer range of the St. Lawrence beluga. On July 14, the rescued beluga was identified in Ingonish, off Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, by Catherine Kinsman of the Whale Stewardship Project: \u201d I was called to give atalk in the community about two vagrant belugas. While watching videos of them, I kept looking at the gray beluga\u2019s skin and a scar pattern I was sure I\u2019d seen before. Then photos of the Nepisiguit beluga matched! I was so excited to identify him.\u201dHe is in the company of another unidentified male beluga.<\/p>\n
Update: The two belugas have left the Ingonish area, in Nova Scotia, and have not been sighted since July 24.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe suspected that the animal survived the operation and we can now confirm this. This raises some questions, however, about whether this animal will ever contribute to the recovery of the St. Lawrence beluga\u201dsays V\u00e9ronique Lesage, Research Scientist and beluga specialist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada.<\/p>\n
Authorities and researchers are concerned about the welfare of these isolated belugas given the degree of interaction they have with humans. \u201cWe often get vagrant animals such as these in areas outside the St. Lawrence Estuary and they can become a source of fascination for the public,\u201d says Tonya Wimmer, Executive Director of the Marine Animal Response Society (MARS). \u201cIt is important that people maintain a safe distance, which the new federal marine mammal regulations dictate must be at least 100\u00a0m.\u201d The two belugas off Ingonish are being closely monitored by Fisheries and Oceans Canada fishery officers.<\/p>\n
The adventure of the Nepisiguit beluga is therefore not over. \u201cWe had to wait a long time to hear from the Nepisiguit beluga and we would have preferred that he stay with other belugas in the St. Lawrence Estuary. We will try to gather more information on this vagrant individual to understand why the animal has moved away from the St. Lawrence Estuary, and whether or not it will eventually return to this location,\u201d says Robert Michaud, Scientific Director of the Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals (GREMM) and coordinator of the relocation operation.<\/p>\n
The public is reminded that it is illegal to approach within 100\u00a0m of these animals and to attempt to feed them or swim or otherwise interact with them. \u201cThe best chance for these animals to return to their fellow belugas is if we minimize our interactions with them,\u201d adds Michaud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Great news! The beluga that was trapped in the Nepisiguit River in New Brunswick and relocated to the St. Lawrence Estuary on June 15, 2017, has been resighted! During this unprecedented operation, the animal was captured and flown to Rivi\u00e8re-du-Loup before being subsequently released into the waters of the St. Lawrence near Cacouna. The St. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":40298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[20,518,519],"class_list":["post-43371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-beluga-en","tag-new-brunswick","tag-solitary"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n