Humpback Whale Disentangled October 15, 2018: Collaborative Effort to Free Humpback Whale Entangled in Oregon Dungeness Crab Gear West of Santa Cruz, California
|
An adult humpback whale entangled in Oregon Dungeness crab gear was spotted by the Half Moon Bay Pilots Association on Friday just outside of Half Moon Bay near Pigeon Point. The pilots documented the entanglement with photographs and notified the NOAA large whale entanglement response program.
|
Vertical Divider
|
On Saturday, the local pilot's association put up another airplane to see if they could spot the entangled whale while teams stood by in Half Moon Bay waiting for the opportunity to respond. Cascadia Research Collective (CRC) members were on their vessel, the Musculus, when they learned about the entanglement on Friday night. They searched the area on Saturday afternoon, but did not relocate the whale. Unfortunately, since the whale was not re-sighted the teams had to stand down.
On Sunday morning, CRC members headed to the shelf edge for a 150 mile long survey with Stanford personnel. Surprisingly, the first whale they came across was the same entangled whale that was reported earlier. They stood by and waited until the Whale Entanglement Team (WET)®, from Moss Landing was able to provide assistance and an inflatable boat (their new 4.2 WING) to help document the severity of the entanglement. A local fisherman out of Half Moon Bay (HMB) volunteered his time and vessel, Aqua Hero, to help out for the day. A member of CWR later met the team to assist. The team was able to remove approximately 350 feet of the trailing line before daylight was lost, then they attached the telemetry buoy to the trailing gear to aid in relocating the whale the next day.
On Sunday night, everyone returned to Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay. CRC and most of the WET® crew traveled back to Moss Landing while the WET vessel, Current'Sea, moored overnight along with their new inflatable, a 4.2 WING.
On Sunday morning, CRC members headed to the shelf edge for a 150 mile long survey with Stanford personnel. Surprisingly, the first whale they came across was the same entangled whale that was reported earlier. They stood by and waited until the Whale Entanglement Team (WET)®, from Moss Landing was able to provide assistance and an inflatable boat (their new 4.2 WING) to help document the severity of the entanglement. A local fisherman out of Half Moon Bay (HMB) volunteered his time and vessel, Aqua Hero, to help out for the day. A member of CWR later met the team to assist. The team was able to remove approximately 350 feet of the trailing line before daylight was lost, then they attached the telemetry buoy to the trailing gear to aid in relocating the whale the next day.
On Sunday night, everyone returned to Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay. CRC and most of the WET® crew traveled back to Moss Landing while the WET vessel, Current'Sea, moored overnight along with their new inflatable, a 4.2 WING.
Click the button to the left to donate. If you rather make a donation directly to Marine Life
Studies, you can donate by check and mail to:
Marine Life Studies' WET, PO Box 163, Moss Landing, CA 95039
Studies, you can donate by check and mail to:
Marine Life Studies' WET, PO Box 163, Moss Landing, CA 95039
|
|
On Monday morning the WET® crew returned to Half Moon Bay and set out on Current'Sea with their inflatable in tow to relocate the entangled humpback via satellite signals from the telemetry buoy. In the meantime, a team composed of people from Cascadia Research Collective, NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, The Marine Mammal Center, SR3, United States Coast Guard (USCG), and other members of NOAA’s Entanglement Response Team assembled in Santa Cruz to also go out to relocate the entangled whale. The USCG were updated throughout the day with the positions relayed by the telemetry buoy. The USCG initially located the whale and stood by until the response teams arrived and removed almost all the remaining gear.. The team was unable to remove all of the gear from the whale because of several tight wraps of line embedded deep into the peduncle. They were able to cut close to the embedded lines, hoping it will come loose as the whale begins to swim in a normal condition.
Click the button to the left to donate. If you rather make a donation directly to Marine Life
Studies, you can donate by check and mail to:
Marine Life Studies' WET, PO Box 163, Moss Landing, CA 95039
Studies, you can donate by check and mail to:
Marine Life Studies' WET, PO Box 163, Moss Landing, CA 95039
How you can help if you see an entangled whale:
Report immediately, call 877-SOS-WHALE (877-767-9425) or hail the U.S. Coast Guard on VHF CH-16.
If possible, please stay with the animal while maintaining 100 yards distance from the animal. Authorized personnel will guide you as what to do next.
If possible, please stay with the animal while maintaining 100 yards distance from the animal. Authorized personnel will guide you as what to do next.
Provide the following information to help authorized responders:
All photos are copyrighted. Photos taken under the MMHSRP Permit. The Whale Entanglement Team (WET)® is part of the West Coast Large Whale Entanglement Response Network.
Learn more about WET® and how you can help.
- Note the nature of the entanglement, location of the entanglement on the whale's body (i.e. a blue line wrapped around the tail (fluke) and wrapped around body by dorsal fin, description of the gear trailing (i.e. buoys if any and the number and color of the buoys, line or other gear trailing with approximate distance behind the whale the gear is trailing).
- Relay the whale's exact location (be as specific as possible, include latitude and longitude if available). Did you know you can get your exact location with your smart phone. Click to learn how.
- Other details such as is the animal swimming (speed and direction the animal is heading, is it diving or staying on the surface, is it breathing). One of the important keys to the success of freeing a whale from a life-threatening entanglement is to have someone standing by until one of our Whale Entanglement Team members arrives.
- If you are able, while maintaining 100 yards from the whale, please take high-resolution photographs of the whale including: the right and left side of the animal including the dorsal fin, the head and back on both sides, the area between the dorsal fin and the fluke (tail), the underside of the fluke if the animal is diving (if it dives it will raise its fluke vertically above the water and the underside of that fluke is a unique pattern that we can identify individual animals, like a human fingerprint), and any trailing gear or buoys.
All photos are copyrighted. Photos taken under the MMHSRP Permit. The Whale Entanglement Team (WET)® is part of the West Coast Large Whale Entanglement Response Network.
Learn more about WET® and how you can help.
