New challenges for whale disentanglement operations

Senior scientist Moira Brown has been studying right whales since 1985. She has received numerous awards for her work, in addition to being the principal author of Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s , published in 2009 for compliance with the Species at Risk Act legislation.

Mackie Greene, director and co-founder of the CWRT, grew up on Campobello Island and has been disentangling large whales as a volunteer since 2002 with minimal support of DFO. Since 2018, the team is now paid for their rescue work and more fully funded by DFO. Mackie is also certified by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, roughly DFO’s counterpart in the US) to respond to entangled right whales in US waters. He served as the Canadian Large Whale Disentanglement Coordinator at the Center for Coastal Studies, and is one of only six (one on the west coast and five on the east coast) expert whale disentanglers recognized by Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Along with the rest of the team, Brown and Greene are able to carry out disentanglement operations to free whales from their ropes with the goal of increasing the whales’ chance of survival.

Once an important feeding ground for North Atlantic right whales, the Bay of Fundy has seen a drop in right whale sightings since 2010. Previously, mothers used to come after the calving season to nurse their calves and feed alongside juveniles and adults, but fewer and fewer individuals have been spotted in these waters in recent years. Instead, mothers and calves and other individual right whales are being observed closer to the Gaspé Peninsula, in the Shediac Valley in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence and, more rarely, in the St. Lawrence Estuary.

Disentanglement has never been easy, and it is always a major safety risk to be in close proximity to any large animal in distress. In the Bay of Fundy, there are many eyes on the water, including whale-watching companies, recreational boaters and fishers. Observers of entangled whales often stay with the whale, following it from a distance until the rescue team arrives to assess the incident and try to disentangle whale if that is deemed the appropriate action. Sometimes they attach a satellite monitor transmitter to trailing line if the whale cannot be disentangled that day.

Another challenge is that the ropes used in Quebec’s snow crab fishery are larger in diameter (3/4’’) than those used in New Brunswick’s lobster fishery (3/8″). It takes more effort, strength and cutting to remove these ropes, which translates into more time spent next to the already distressed animal.

A recent collaboration

One of the most recent cases of disentanglement in the Gulf of St. Lawrence was that of the North Atlantic right whale known as “2023 calf of #1812.” First observed in the Shediac Valley east of Shippagan, New Brunswick on June 22, 2024, the one-and-a-half-year-old right whale reappeared near Petits-Escoumins, Quebec, over 500 km from where it was first reported, nearly two weeks later. This juvenile has not yet been given an identification number, but we do know that it is War’s (#1812) 7^th calf. For the time being, it is known as “2023 calf of #1812,” in reference to its year of birth and its mother’s ID number.

In this whale’s case, the Quebec Marine Mammal Emergency Response Network (QMMERN), together with its partners from the CWRT, DFO, Parks Canada and Transport Canada, coordinated a response plan to facilitate the intervention to free the animal from its ropes. Also operating the Marine Mammal Emergency Response Centre (UMM), which is open 24/7, the QMMERN received and transmitted the whale sightings corresponding to this incident (1-877-722-5346). Together with the Whales Online team, the QMMERN provided communications and updates on the situation to the network of observers and members of the local whale-watching cruise industry in order to ensure the safety and well-being of whales and mariners alike.

Disentanglement is a highly dangerous and stressful process for both the animal and the humans involved. In eastern Canada, there are only five individuals who are authorized to perform disentanglements. They work for the Campobello team in New Brunswick or for Whale Release & Strandings in Newfoundland and Labrador. Additionally, to help respond to entangled whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, there is a newly trained apprentice team, Équipe de Désempêtrement du Golfe (EDG), based in Shippagan, comprised of local fishers and the QMMERN, who work in collaboration with the Campobello team for responses in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence and Quebec waters, respectively.

When an entanglement is reported, the nearest team is deployed to place a satellite tag. In Quebec, the CWRT is providing further training to carry out this type of intervention, including to DFO fishery officers, the QMMERN team and Parks Canada. Attaching a satellite tag makes it possible to track and relocate the entangled whale. Once the whale has been spotted, the certified and permitted individuals from CWRT can begin attempts to disentangle it and provide additional on-the-water training to collaborators.