With more humpback whales in B.C. waters, entanglements are on the rise, too
CBC
It takes a village to disentangle a humpback whale — or, in the case of a mother and her calf off the coast of Vancouver Island last week, a community of whale watchers, researchers, Mounties, Parks Canada staff and a team of highly skilled professionals from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).
These operations are becoming much more common in B.C. waters as the numbers of humpbacks — and people on the water spotting whales in distress — increase.
"There are so many eyes and ears out there," said Paul Cottrell with marine mammal rescue at DFO and a global expert on whale disentanglement.
The whale and her calf were first spotted entangled in fishing gear on Oct. 7 near Barkley Sound off Ucluelet by Sydney Dixon, research director for the Tofino-based Strawberry Isle Marine Research Society.
"This is a female humpback whale that is really well known and beloved in Barkley Sound," said Dixon, who is also a Zodiac skipper for Jamie's Whaling Station, a tour operator on the west coast of the Island.
The whale, known as Pinky to locals, has migrated to the waters off Barkley Sound fairly consistently since the early 2000s, says Dixon.
"She's brought several babies back to our area to our area as well," she said.
Dixon said she was conducting a whale-watching tour when she noticed floats from what appeared to be a crab or prawn trap following behind the pair.
"I realized that either she or her calf were entangled in some fishing gear," she said.
Entanglements have become more common over the past decade, says Cottrell.
"In the last five years, we've seen an uptick from three to 10 confirmed entanglements to ...10 to 25 animals a year entangled," he said.
Part of the reason, he says, is because there are a lot more humpback whales in inshore waters. For example, the humpback whale population off northeastern Vancouver Island reached 86 in 2018, up from just seven in 2004.
"Getting these animals back is a great news story, but there are more entanglements because we do have [fishing] gear in the water," he said.
The effects of entanglement on whales depends on how much and what type of gear is involved, and where on the body it is.
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