Marine mammal rescuers on Vancouver Island have reported a busy summer dealing with whale entanglements. According to Paul Cottrell, the marine mammal co-ordinator at Fisheries and Oceans Canada, his team has responded to an average of one to two entanglements per week over the past two months, consistent with last year’s numbers. Alongside multiple necropsies, the team was recently activated for the third time in less than two weeks to assist a humpback whale calf entangled in over 100 meters of rope near the south coast of Vancouver Island.
After tracking the gear, Cottrell’s team discovered that the calf had been dragging the rope since July 5 when it went missing from B.C.’s central coast. The rescue operation took seven hours, during which the calf was freed with the help of U.S. counterparts. Cottrell emphasized the significance of saving every animal, expressing satisfaction in being able to assist the calf.
In a separate incident, his team spent a day and a half disentangling a whale named Wiggins for the second time in a year near French Creek before responding to another entanglement call in the Alberni Inlet. Cottrell noted the increasing frequency of such events, with entanglement rates showing no signs of decline due to the rising number of humpbacks in inshore waters overlapping with fishing gear.
Jackie Hildering, a researcher and educator at the Marine Education and Research Society (MERS), discussed the successful conservation efforts leading to the “humpback comeback” from near extinction. However, Hildering expressed concerns over the continued entanglements, highlighting that half of the whales she has observed showed signs of previous entanglements, possibly underestimating the actual numbers.
Hildering stressed the importance of prevention and education over reactive disentanglement efforts, advocating for informed actions to reduce humpback entanglements and fatalities. She recommended taking a whale safe boating course developed by MERS with federal government endorsement to promote responsible boating practices around marine wildlife.
