FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Release 9.1

Contact: Tanya Grady, PCCS, 508-247-7665, tgrady@coastalstudies.org

Local Group Frees Entangled Whale

The whale, a member of a dwindling population, has been identified as Mavynne, a whale last seen with her calf beside her in the Bay of Fundy by NEAq on August 28, 2009. At that time she was not entangled. During the disentanglement operation yesterday, the team saw no other whales in the area but one of the original reporters, a recreational fisherman, thought there might have been two whales together, at 7:30 am that morning.

The entanglement consisted of three wraps of synthetic rope around the whale's upper jaw and a wrap of rope around its body, leading to heavy gear beneath it. Much of the entangling gear was well below the surface, beneath the whale. The team used a thirty-foot extendible pole with a hook-shaped knife affixed to the end and then positioned their thirty-nine foot vessel alongside the whale, reaching out with the pole to cut the ropes.

"Very likely this whale had only recently become entangled and was still actively trying to rid itself of the rope. Right whales can be extremely dangerous to work with so our team took every precaution not only for the whales' safety but human safety as well," said Scott Landry, director of the response program. The PCCS program provides year round emergency response for entangled marine animals. So far this season, the team has disentangled three humpback whales and eight leatherbacks sea turtles; these animals are listed as federally endangered species, like the right whale.

Opportunistic, future sightings of either Mavynne, or her calf, will shed light on the fate of both animals.

PCCS disentanglement work is supported by a grant from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (MA-DMF). Support for the Marine Animal Response Team also comes from a grant from the Massachusetts Environmental Trust. All disentanglement activities are conducted under a federal permit authorized by NOAA.

The Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and protecting marine mammals and ecosystems in the Gulf of Maine through applied research, education, public policy initiatives and management strategies.

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