Efforts to disentangle a humpback whale calf on Stellwagen Bank continue, but the situation is among the most technically difficult the entanglement response team has ever faced.
Partnering with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), the disentanglement team from the Center for Coastal Studies has so far made ten trips to visit the calf off Stellwagen Bank since first learning of the situation at the end of June. The most recent visit was on Wednesday, August 2. As soon as weather permits, they’ll go again.
The calf is about seven or eight months old and is still nursing. Its mother is called Lollipop.
The challenge is that the calf is entangled with monofilament line, so using the standard procedure for hooking on to and cutting the entanglement won’t work, as it would cause the monofilament to cut further into the calf’s flipper.
Efforts to disentangle a whale are only made when it’s determined that the whale will otherwise not survive. “We’re erring on the side of caution that it is likely lethal, with the calf facing infection or amputation” said Scott Landry, Director of the Center’s Marine Animal Entanglement Response Program.
“We know it will be difficult so we are looking for anything that might increase the chance of success.”
That “anything” is sedation. It’s hoped that sedating the whale will allow rescuers to approach. But the calf has already been sedated twice, with no effect.
“It’s a very tricky, technically challenging situation. We hope that sedation will give us that more of an edge. But sedating whales at sea is in its infancy and sedating a humpback whale calf, at sea, would be a first,” said Scott.
Boaters are urged to report any entanglement sightings of whales, sea-turtles or other marine animals to the MAER team (1-800-900-3622) or the US Coast Guard on VHF 16, and to stand by the animal at a safe distance until trained responders arrive.
CCS disentanglement work is supported in part by grants from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (MA-DMF), the Massachusetts Environmental Trust, and private foundations and donors. All disentanglement activities are conducted under a federal permit authorized by NOAA.
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