Whale-rescue experts in N.L. are showing their Canadian colleagues the ropes | 24CA News
Newfoundland and Labrador is a world chief in making an attempt to avoid wasting whales tangled in ocean detritus, together with fishing gear, communications traces and aircraft particles.
Now the province’s whale-disentanglement consultants are working to move these abilities on to others.
“Different groups use different tools, so we’re looking at the safest and most effective,” mentioned Julie Huntington of the St. John’s-based group Whale Release and Strandings.
“We’re discussing adapting tools and have prototypes that have never been in the water. This workshop is one of the first of its kind, and we will all walk away with new ideas.”
The group not too long ago hosted a whale disentanglement workshop on the Marine Institute in St. John’s — an opportunity for folks from New Brunswick’s Campobello Island, the Quebec Maritime Mammal Response Network, and British Columbia to debate instruments and strategies for releasing whales from fishing gear.
“Our tools were originally developed through the Whale Research Group and Jon Lien, but the fishing gear has changed as time passed,” mentioned Huntington. “We often don’t know who the gear belongs to, so we work to get it off the whale and out of the water.”
The workshop occurred alongside the world’s largest flume tank — a 1.7-million-litre tank used to check gear and strategies, amongst different issues.
The follow of disentangling whales started in Newfoundland and Labrador in 1979 — to attempt to retrieve fishing gear and return it to fishermen.
Huntington and her colleague Wayne Ledwell realized about whale disentanglement from Jon Lien, an animal behaviourist and natural farmer nicknamed “the whale man.”
Lien based the Newfoundland Whale Research Group and pioneered and innovated many whale rescue strategies now used worldwide.
“At one point, we were cautious about cutting nets and wanted to return gear to fishers so they could return to fishing immediately,” mentioned Huntington, who began working with the group within the late ’80s.
But the instruments they use and their priorities have modified since then, she mentioned.
These days, Huntington and Ledwell use a five-metre Zodiac, and alongside a security boat they use quite a lot of chopping instruments to free tangled whales.
She factors to a rusty piece of equipment on a desk.
“That’s a clanger. We no longer use them, but they would be attached to a buoy near a cod trap. The idea is that it would — hopefully — make a unique noise and let the whale know that there was danger ahead.”
Patience and care
Imagine making an attempt to untangle a herd of seven charging elephants — whereas they’re transferring.
Now strive to do this whereas navigating on the ocean, and also you begin to get a way of what folks making an attempt to disentangle whales are coping with.
“These are 40-50-tonne animals. They are agitated and distressed. You must be very careful and patient and not move in too quickly. When an animal nears exhaustion, making those cuts gets a little safer,” mentioned Paul Cottrell, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ marine animal co-ordinator in British Columbia.
Cottrell, one of many consultants on the workshop, leads whale rescues alongside the huge British Columbia shoreline.
In 2021, there have been 34 reported massive whale entanglements in British Columbia, with related numbers final 12 months.
While summer season is the busy season, Cottrell and his group rescued a humpback simply final month.
“The biggest challenge for us, in British Columbia, is the hugeness of the coastline. We train people along the coast to attach satellite buoys with satellite tags to whales,” he mentioned.
The tags assist pace issues up for Cottrell, who can lose invaluable time making an attempt to trace down an entangled whale.
“By having these tags attached, we can find the whale. Then we grab the right gear, wait for the right weather, and most importantly, be in the right place,” he mentioned.
If a whale is transferring and the group cannot find it, then every satellite tv for pc buoy has a timed launch, which implies the group will not be including extra drag to an already entangled whale.
Cottrell’s group has two vessels: the rescue vessel and a assist vessel for security.
He additionally makes use of drones to assist determine gear configuration.
“They enable us to assess if the whale is entangled around the mouth, the tail stalk,” he mentioned. “This is information we absolutely need.”
Whale rescue within the Bay of Fundy
Mackie Green was a lobster fisherman.
He’s tried out most forms of fishing and comes from an extended line of fishers.
“Most of our team worked in the industry, and we have a close relationship with the fisherman in our area. They’ll come to help us with a disentanglement,” he mentioned.
Green’s been the director of whale rescue with the Canadian Whale Institute on Campebello Island for the final 5 years. His group works with the occasional minke or fin whale, however they largely disentangle humpbacks and endangered northern proper whales.
“Right whales seem to be the hardest to work with. They are just incredibly robust, and they don’t tire out. They migrate, constantly moving,” he mentioned.
The summer season habitat of the correct whale has shifted north, so the group from Campebello Island work out of a bigger Zodiac than the group in Newfoundland.
“We’re often 40 or 50 miles offshore,” he mentioned. “We need a bigger boat. We use satellite tags too, and we just started using drones. They help us because we can see overtop without spooking the whales.”
What are the 2 largest issues for whale rescue work within the Bay of Fundy?
“Well, we do not hear from fishers as much as we should. There’s a lot of fear about having the fishery shut down, so whale entanglements go unreported, but an entangled humpback will not shut down an industry, so we need those calls. Call us,” he mentioned.
Green can be involved about individuals who attempt to assist with out the correct coaching or certification.
“Folks will see a whale dragging a rope, and they’ll shorten a rope,” he mentioned. “We need that rope. We aim to free the whale completely but often need to latch on to rope to untangle it. It’s very frustrating because well-meaning people can doom a whale,” he mentioned.
The alternative to debate, talk about and be taught has been invaluable for all of the groups, mentioned Green.
“Newfoundland is where so many of our techniques were pioneered, so this workshop has been an incredible opportunity,” he mentioned.
