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Your involvement and support are vital to the Center's efforts to conserve endangered whales and marine ecosystems.
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Friday August 24, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Endangered Humpback Freed Off Canadian Coast(Provincetown, Cape Cod, MA) - An experienced team of whale researchers from the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS) and the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale Sanctuary disentangled an endangered humpback whale yesterday afternoon in Grand Manan Banks, 25 nautical miles west of Brier Island, Nova Scotia.The humpback whale was towing a series of buoys and rope from its mouth when it was spotted by researchers aboard the PCCS R/V Shearwater as they were surveying humpback whale feeding areas. Researchers immediately reported the entanglement to the disentanglement hotline and contacted the Canadian Department of Fish and Oceans (DFO), which gave the experienced team the green light to attempt the rescue operation. The team cut two lines from one side of the mouth and attached additional buoys to the line exiting the other side its mouth. The buoys helped pull the rope free when the whale made a series of dives. All of the gear including over 600-ft of rope, was documented and recovered, and will be transferred to authorities for analysis. The whale, a mature male known to researchers as Sigma, was freed after two hours of effort from the crew consisting of PCCS's Jooke Robbins, Omar Reynoso, Joel Barkin, Lisa Sette, and David Mattila of Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. # # # Only three percent of all entangled humpback whales are actually reported to authorities annually. Endangered whales continue to die in unsustainable numbers from entanglement in commercial fishing gear regulated by U.S. and Canadian law. To report an entanglement please call the hotline at: 1.800.900.3622 All federally authorized large whale disentanglement activities along the Atlantic coast of the United States are conducted by the Atlantic Large Whale Disentanglement Network, a program of the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, operating under contract with NOAA Fisheries Service and permitted under the Endangered Species and Marine Mammal Protection Acts.# # # The Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies is a private non-profit founded in 1976, dedicated to researching and protecting marine mammals in the Gulf of Maine through applied research, conservation, environmental and education programs. Our whale disentanglement team coordinates disentanglement efforts along the East Coast of the United States.
PCCS Contacts
Greg Krutzikowsky
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