NOTE TO READERS: All “Quotes” in this blog are approximations of conversations and are NOT the actual words that were said by any of the people quoted.

“Let’s check out the other side of Harwood” Terry suggests. The 2 frolicking humpback whales and their sealion friends have left and it’s a sunny afternoon. We’re drifting around Harwood when the VHF radio crackles with an incoming alert. “Susan, where’s your boat?” It’s a call from Nick Templeman of Campbell River Whale Safaris to Susan MacKay, local whale naturalist and sightings recorder, founder of WOWS.  “I’m with 3 whales**. I think the calf got entangled in a prawn trap line. It’s been thrashing around trying to free itself. It might be panicking.” “Is it trailing line or a buoy?” Susan radios back. “I’m out in my skiff and heading over there. Can you stay with the whales?” “Roger that” Nick replies.

We have just passed the prawn traps they are talking about. We scout for escaped buoys and detached floating polypro line but don’t immediately find anything. So we head in the direction of Nick’s fast zodiac while calling him on our VHF radio. “Blue Parrot to Nick. How is the whale now?” “Looks like the 2 adults have broken off the buoy. The young one’s managed to shake off the line. I don’t see anything else on the calf. All 3 whales are looking more relaxed. I’m going to stay with them for a while longer to make sure they’re alright.” he answers. “I’ll see if I can find the broken line and buoy” Susan calls “They’re supposed to be using sinking line on prawn and crab traps so these entanglements don’t happen.”

This time the whale gets free. Susan ensures that no lines remain on the calf and finds the broken off  buoy. Later she tells us that too many people are abandoning line, traps and buoys. Susan has photographed derelict buoys all over the Salish Sea. They are a death trap to whales and other marine mammals.

Many people believe that all whales use echolocation to precisely image their surroundings. But only toothed whales have the physiology necessary to echolocate. Baleen whales like humpbacks, right whales, blue whales and grey whales do not have that ability. They may use a form of sonar to find large schools of fish and krill but fine distinctions of materials and spatial location are not available to them. Even young orca who have extremely sensitive echolocating abilities get entangled in lines and nets because they are curious, playful, and unaware of the dangers human contraptions pose to them.

It’s not difficult to change this situation and protect our marine friends from entanglement and drowning if people follow guidelines for using sinking line on prawn and crab traps. Please do it.

** The 3 whales are later identified by Nick as BCX0545 Europa / Bounty, her calf BCX Pony, and BCY Dalmatian