A humpback whale calf entangled in fishing gear wiring was seen Wednesday in the Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park. An attempt to free the animal could take place if it is located again. However, only responders from New Brunswick are authorized to intervene, since Quebec has no large cetacean disentanglement team.
“A yellow rope passes over its back, below its right pectoral fin, and enters its mouth on the left side. No trap is visible and only a few meters of rope are lying behind him, ”explained the Marine Mammal Observation Network on its Facebook page on Thursday morning, describing the situation of the entangled calf.
According to the information available Thursday morning, this calf would be a young born in the last few months. He would therefore have arrived in the marine park with his mother. On Wednesday, he was swimming with an adult whale. However, we do not know if it is a well-known female, as are some who frequent the area year after year.
Two teams from Fisheries and Oceans Canada and one from the Campobello Whale Rescue Team in New Brunswick were trying to spot the animal on Thursday morning. An attempt to free the young whale could then take place.
You should know that there is no team authorized to intervene to free large cetaceans in Quebec, even if hundreds of whales frequent the Quebec portion of the St. Lawrence. “The Campobello whale rescue team is the organization authorized by Fisheries and Oceans Canada to carry out disentanglement maneuvers,” the management of the Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park said Thursday.
In this context, Parks Canada, which manages the marine park, specifies that its role “is to provide support in these situations which are coordinated by the Quebec Marine Mammal Emergency Network”.
Humpback whales are very present in the waters of the St. Lawrence, and especially in the Marine Park, at this time of year. And the year 2021 was marked by a record number of sightings of humpback whales and fin whales in the Saguenay–St. Lawrence Marine Park.
However, it is very rare that entangled animals are observed in this sector, which is also very frequented by whale-watching cruise ships.
Over the years, however, cases of entanglement have been observed in humpback whales, fin whales and minke whales, in particular. The most publicized case was that of Capitaine Crochet, a well-known fin whale in the Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park, who had become entangled in a snow crab fishing trap. The animal was never seen again.
Several cetaceans also bear scars after becoming entangled in fishing gear or being hit by boats. In 2020, a fin whale was severely mutilated in the marine park. It has never been possible to know precisely how this incident occurred.
More details will follow.