Crews untangle a humpback whale from fishing gear near Comox

A crew from Fisheries and Oceans Canada was working late into the night to untangle a humpback whale that was caught in recreational shrimping gear near Comox on Thursday.

Paul Cottrell, DFO’s marine mammal coordinator, says someone travelling on BC Ferries saw the humpback whale entangled in the equipment and called.

“We got a call early in the morning. It was a passenger who was on the ferry from Little River to Powell River and he saw a humpback whale that was towing a rope and a buoy, so he called right away. It was amazing, we had the people from our whale protection unit who were trained,” Cottrell said.

“We worked as a team all afternoon and finished around 11 p.m. The recreational shrimping gear the whale was carrying was the one we had, and we removed over 30 meters of line. The animal was obviously very agitated.”

Cottrell says the crew’s ability to disentangle the whale near Comox after a report from the public highlights why it’s important for people to call if they see something.

“It’s very important for people who are in the water to call our number 1-800-465-4336. It’s our hotline for marine mammal incidents and it operates 24 hours a day,” Cottrell said.

“And the sooner we get that information, like we did with this particular entanglement, the quicker we can get out and help this animal. And our success rate is really high if we can locate the animal and put a satellite device on it.”

The team was able to remove most of the fishing gear but was unable to remove the buoy, so they hope to find the whale, named Smoke, again and either make sure it has been freed or remove the last piece.

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DFO regulations require all fishing gear to have the owner’s name and phone number on it, so Cottrell called and left a message with the owner to try to determine where the whale picked up the gear.

Cottrell said the team went out to look for the whale and when they first found it it was travelling at about seven knots, so they had to wait for it to tire and slow down before they could safely approach it.

“You can’t anesthetize these animals because it’s very dangerous in the water. They can drown and it’s very difficult to know the dose because they’re so big,” Cottrell said.

“So it’s a very difficult situation when you have a 30-ton humpback whale or any other large whale entangled and you have to try to get in and remove the gear. You have to be very patient. And we were very patient, and that’s why it often takes more than five, more than six, more than ten hours to get started and then finish, to remove the gear.”

Since the whale was awake, Cottrell said there are a number of signs to look out for to ensure the safety of the team and the whale.

“We really go by behavioral cues. If the animal is making a beep, a whistle or a high-pitched tone, we know it’s agitated and it’s going to react,” Cottrell said. “So through experience, you monitor the behavior while you’re working with the animal and you have to be able to switch off at any time, and we did that several times with this animal.”

Cottrell says that for the past five years, there have been between 12 and 30 confirmed entanglements of whales of all species each year, and they often manage to disentangle themselves.

Part of the increase is due to more humpback whales arriving in the waters near Vancouver Island.

READ MORE: Nearly 400 humpback whales spotted in Salish Sea in 2022, breaking records

“It’s great news that we have more humpback whales, but unfortunately we are seeing negative interactions with the crews that are there,” Cottrell said.

See the images of the rescue below:

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