Marine mammal rescuers operating on Vancouver Island have reported a surge in whale entanglements this summer. According to Paul Cottrell, who serves as the marine mammal coordinator for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, his team has been addressing an average of one to two entanglements weekly over the past two months. This rate is consistent with last year and has also involved conducting several necropsies.
In the most recent incident, which occurred last week, Cottrell’s team responded to their third call in under two weeks. This time, they encountered a humpback whale calf and its mother near the south coast of Vancouver Island entangled in over 100 meters of rope. The team traced the gear and determined that the calf had been dragging the rope since July 5, following its disappearance from British Columbia’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 significance of each animal’s well-being.
Prior to this rescue, the team had dealt with two entanglement cases within two days. They spent a day and a half disentangling a whale named Wiggins for the second time in a year near French Creek on Vancouver Island’s eastern coast. Subsequently, they responded to another entanglement call in the Alberni Inlet on the central Island.
Cottrell highlighted the increasing frequency of such incidents, noting that entanglement rates show no signs of decline. While celebrating the return of humpback whales to British Columbia’s inshore waters, he acknowledged the concerning overlap with inshore fishing gear.
Researcher and educator Jackie Hildering from the Marine Education and Research Society (MERS) praised conservation efforts for providing humpback whales with a “second chance” after being hunted to near extinction. However, she expressed concern that this opportunity is being wasted, pointing out that a significant portion of photographed whales exhibit signs of previous entanglements.
Hildering stressed the importance of prevention and education over reactive disentanglement efforts, advocating for a proactive approach to safeguarding humpback whales. She urged individuals to participate in MERS’ whale safe boating course endorsed by the federal government to reduce the risk of entanglements and fatalities.
Overall, the rise in whale entanglements underscores the ongoing challenges facing marine mammal conservation efforts in the region.