Marine mammal rescuers operating on Vancouver Island have reported a busy summer dealing with whale entanglements. Paul Cottrell, the marine mammal co-ordinator at Fisheries and Oceans Canada, stated that his team has been responding to an average of one to two entanglements per week over the past two months. This rate is consistent with the figures from the previous year, with additional necropsies being conducted.
The most recent entanglement incident occurred last week, marking the third activation for Cottrell’s team in less than two weeks. A humpback whale calf, along with its mother, was discovered near the south coast of Vancouver Island entangled in over 100 meters of rope. Tracking the gear, the team determined that the calf had been towing the rope since July 5 when it went missing from B.C.’s central coast.
The rescue operation to free the calf took seven hours and involved collaboration with U.S. counterparts. Cottrell expressed the team’s satisfaction in saving the calf, emphasizing the importance of each animal’s well-being.
Prior to this, the team had responded to two entanglement calls in two consecutive days. They spent a day and a half disentangling a whale named Wiggins for the second time in a year near French Creek on the eastern coast of Vancouver Island before rushing to the central Island and the Alberni Inlet for another rescue mission.
Cottrell highlighted the increasing frequency of such incidents, noting that entanglement rates show no signs of decreasing. The rise in humpback whale sightings in inshore waters of British Columbia, while a positive sign of their recovery, has unfortunately led to more entanglements with fishing gear.
Jackie Hildering, a researcher and educator at the Marine Education and Research Society (MERS), praised the conservation efforts that have given humpback whales a “second chance” after being hunted to near extinction. However, she expressed concerns that this opportunity is being wasted, citing a high percentage of whales showing signs of past entanglements in her research.
According to Hildering, disentanglements, while making headlines, are not a long-term solution. She stressed the importance of prevention and education in addressing the issue effectively. Hildering urged for public awareness on how to prevent humpback entanglements and deaths, recommending a whale safe boating course developed by MERS with federal government endorsement.