Loch Fyne Entangled Humpback.
By Scottish Dolphin Centre Officer Cath Bain
As some of you may know, as well as working for WDC at the Scottish Dolphin Centre, I also volunteer for British Divers Marine Life Rescue who are a charity that rescues Whales, Dolphins & Seals that get into difficulty around the coast. Within that I am part of the Specially trained Large Whale Disentanglement Team (LWDT) As part of the LWDT I am a Rescue Technician Logistics which involves planning, prepping equipment as well as driving the support boat and handing over equipment out on the water to the operations boat when they need it.
On Monday 4th November BDMLR were alerted to a possible Humpback caught in ropes in Loch Fyne on the West coast of Scotland. On the morning of the 5th, after the team travelled through the night to be on scene before first light and with the rescue boats launched and loaded with equipment, we headed out to sea to try to find the animal. We were very lucky that the sea was flat calm and there was no wind as this made spotting the Whale easier and it wasn’t long until we found it.
The Whale was looking very tired, hanging on the surface so we went to work as soon as we could to try and assess how it was entangled using a 360 camera. But before you can do anything you have to assess the temperament of the animal and get it used to the boat, they are very powerful animals and can easily flip a small boat so it’s important that we give it time to get accustomed to us. The entanglement was quite complex with the loose wraps slipping and moving around on the body and some tight wraps around the head and through the mouth which would have prevented it from feeding properly.
Once the Team were reasonably sure how the lines were wrapped around the animal, we made a cutting plan and went to start the process of cutting the Whale free. This again is complex because as you cut one thing it can change the position of other lines meaning you have to rethink the plan. It was great to see the tangle of ropes coming off the animal.
When the last line was cut and the whale realised it was free and began to swim away it was such a fantastic feeling and we were all elated!
We train extensively and it was brilliant to see all the hard work in training pay off. My fellow volunteers travelled from far and wide including some from Devon and Cornwall, and I am very proud to be a part of the BDMLR Large Whale Disentanglement Team. My thanks also go to WDC who allowed me to leave work to attend this rescue.
If you find an entangled Whale, please don’t try to free it yourself, give the Large Whale Disentanglement Team a call!
