Marine animal rescuers on Vancouver Island have reported a busy summer dealing with whale entanglements. Paul Cottrell, who oversees marine mammals at Fisheries and Oceans Canada, mentioned that his team has responded to an average of one to two entanglements per week over the past two months, similar to last year’s numbers. In addition to the entanglements, they have also conducted several necropsies.
The most recent incident involved a humpback whale calf and its mother near the south coast of Vancouver Island, entangled in over 100 meters of rope. The team discovered that the calf had been towing the rope since July 5, when it went missing from the central coast of British Columbia.
After a seven-hour effort, working collaboratively with U.S. counterparts, the team successfully freed the calf. Cottrell expressed the team’s satisfaction in saving the calf, emphasizing the importance of every animal rescue.
Prior to this rescue, the team had responded to two entanglement cases within two days. They spent time disentangling a whale named Wiggins for the second time in a year near French Creek on the eastern coast of Vancouver Island before moving to the Alberni Inlet on a second call.
Cottrell highlighted the increasing frequency of such incidents, with no signs of entanglement rates decreasing. He noted the rise in humpback sightings in British Columbia’s inshore waters, attributing it to conservation efforts but also expressing concern about the overlap with fishing gear.
Jackie Hildering, a researcher at the Marine Education and Research Society (MERS), acknowledged the positive impact of conservation efforts on humpback whales but raised concerns about missed opportunities in their protection. She emphasized the prevalence of entanglement signs in the whales she has studied, underscoring the urgency of the problem.
Hildering stressed the need for prevention and education as crucial tools in addressing entanglements, advocating for informed actions to safeguard humpbacks. She recommended taking a whale-safe boating course developed by MERS, endorsed by the federal government, to promote responsible boating practices around marine wildlife.