A humpback whale was found entangled in several lines off the coast of British Columbia, Canada. The animal was found drifting in the Hecate Strait. When it was found, the humpback whale’s head and stomach were entangled in a number of fishing lines and floats. A crew from Fisheries and Oceans Canada Marine Mammal Rescue took four days to extricate the whale from its entanglement.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s marine mammal coordinator, Paul Cottrell, reportedly said on CBC radio that the animal “couldn’t open its mouth and then the body wraps.”
It’s difficult to estimate how long the whale was entangled and how long it could have survived without food if it couldn’t open its mouth.
Results from our 2022 scar analysis study showed that up to 47% of northern British Columbia’s humpback whales have experienced and survived an entanglement. This figure does not account for the quantity of whales who perished or the potential long-term health effects of entanglement or ship strike incidents. To provide whales and all other marine animals the best chance of survival, we must band together and report these incidents when they happen.
When witnessing an entangled whale, keep your distance, phone the hotline at 1-800-465-4336, if you are within cell coverage or report the occurrence to the coast guard on VHF channel 16, and record the information in the “Remote Report” app.