A beluga carcass washed up in the Gasp\u00e9 town of Les M\u00e9chins on August 6. The newborn beluga still had its umbilical cord. The carcass will be recovered and sent for analysis to Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Saint-Hyacinthe. \u201cThe loss of a newborn is always bad news for an endangered population. This young animal will not have a chance to contribute to the recovery of its species,\u201d says Robert Michaud, GREMM president and scientific director and coordinator of the Quebec Marine Mammal Emergency Response Network.<\/p>\n
Since the beginning of the year, twelve beluga carcasses have been found along the St. Lawrence. This number does not represent the actual number of deaths, but the number of carcasses discovered.\u00a0Here is the chronology of these events:<\/p>\n
March 28: beluga of undetermined sex found in Sainte-Luce<\/p>\n
April 8: young female found in Baie-des-Sables<\/p>\n
May 13: young male discovered in Rimouski<\/p>\n
May 31: adult female found in Saint-Denis-de-la-Bouteillerie<\/p>\n
June 1: adult of undetermined sex discovered in Havre-Saint-Pierre<\/p>\n
June 16: adult of undetermined sex found in Sept-\u00celes<\/p>\n
June 18: adult male found in Saint-Ulric<\/p>\n
July 5: adult female beluga discovered in Sainte-Flavie. Identified as DL0584,. this individual died as a result of dystocia.<\/p>\n
July 16: adult female discovered in Grosses-Roches<\/p>\n
August 1: adult female found in Rivi\u00e8re-du-Loup<\/p>\n
August 2: juvenile male discovered in Saint-Fabien<\/p>\n
August 6: newborn found in Les M\u00e9chins<\/p>\n
A beluga carcass was also found in Nova Scotia. For the time being, the population from which this animal originated remains unknown.<\/p>\n
At first glance, this large number of strandings may seem worrisome for this endangered population. However, it is too early to know whether or not these figures are abnormal. \u201cAbout fifteen carcasses are discovered annually. Before the season has come to an end, it\u2019s difficult to draw any conclusions,\u201d explains GREMM President and Scientific Director Robert Michaud. Monitoring mortalities in St. Lawrence belugas helps to better understand and in turn better protect this population.<\/p>\n
In 2018,\u00a012 St. Lawrence beluga carcasses<\/a>\u00a0were found. In 2017,\u00a022 carcasses<\/a>\u00a0were found and in 2016,\u00a0this figure was 14<\/a>.<\/p>\n The place where a carcass washes ashore does not necessarily correspond to where the animal died. A number of environmental factors accumulate and push the majority of carcasses toward the river\u2019s south shore, namely in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region and the start of the Gasp\u00e9 Peninsula. These factors include the configuration and the currents of the St. Lawrence, the Coriolis force, and prevailing southwesterly winds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A beluga carcass washed up in the Gasp\u00e9 town of Les M\u00e9chins on August 6. The newborn beluga still had its umbilical cord. The carcass will be recovered and sent for analysis to Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Saint-Hyacinthe. \u201cThe loss of a newborn is always bad news for an endangered population. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":46315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[409],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-49472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marine-mammal-emergencies","tag-beluga-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy are so many carcasses found on the south shore of the St. Lawrence?<\/h2>\n