Whale Freed from Ropes

By Jon Manchester

A humpback whale was freed this week from a tangle of fishing rope off the coast of Powell River. Boaters spotted the distressed whale Sunday night as it was struggling to breathe after becoming bound in a kilometre of rope.

“They saw this humpback, which they thought was really neat, but then quickly realized this animal was in distress and it wasn’t moving,” Paul Cottrell of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans told CTV. “It was basically hog tied.”

The boaters reported the sighting, and the next morning, volunteers, DFO staff and Coast Guard members set to work freeing the whale.

“It was one of the worst entanglements I’ve ever seen,” Cottrell said. “The animal would have died.” The team cut away at the ropes, eventually freeing the cetacean.

Whale sightings are on the rise in B.C. waters, and whale-watching companies are reporting a banner year. Vancouver Whale Watch in Steveston has recorded 74 straight days of sightings. “That’s our best record so far. We had a stretch last year of maybe 55 days,” owner Cedric Towers said.

Cottrell says the public should always report entanglements to the DFO. People should never try to free the animals alone. “Don’t actually engage or cut anything from a large whale,” he said. “We’ve had that in the past and it hasn’t ended well.”

To report a sighting, call the B.C. Marine Mammal Response Network at 1-800-465-4336 or the B.C. Cetacean Sightings Network at 1-800-ISAWONE.

Originally published here.