Another whale gets stuck and dies on the West Coast - why so many?
A sperm whale caught up in ropes has died after it became stranded on a shore of the Isle of Raasay, following a spate of whale entanglements along the West Coast.
The "weak" sperm whale was spotted off the east coast of Skye on Thursday February 27, and reported to the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR).
The charity dispatched its Large Whale Disentanglement Team (LWDT) for a closer look. Sperm whales can be unpredictable, especially when entangled, so the team had to act with extreme caution.
On Friday they found the 15 metre long whale was wrapped in a number of lines, trailing 10 to 20 metres of rope, and formulated a plan to free the animal.
The team cut the majority of the lines impairing the whale’s movement on Saturday, severing five wraps of rope forward of the pectoral fin and one of the trailing lines, hoped the remaining two wraps and a traling line would come off on their own.
"Straight away after removing the worst of the entanglement, the whale became more active, swimming faster and for longer," the rescuers reported. "However, the whale is not out of trouble.
"The Sound of Raasay, where the whale was found, is considered out of habitat for a sperm whale, so its presence in the area could indicate there are underlying health conditions, and there is a chance the animal could fully strand at a later time."
In worsening weather the team lost sight of the whale, which was free swimming, making further monitoring impossible.
But then on Monday the charity got a report of a sperm whale very close to shore of Raasay. "With some ropes wrapped around the whale, it was believed to be the same animal," the BDMLR said.
"We received footage showing the whale grounded in the shallows, still breathing but stationary. As the tide receded, the whale was pushed onto its side and was almost completely stranded at low tide.
"This revealed the extent of the rest of the entanglement which wrapped around the whale’s lower jaw and again around its head.
"Whilst our Marine Mammal Medics were dispatched and on their way to the island, a well-meaning member of the public cut away the ropes in order to relieve the whale that at this point was still breathing.
"BDMLR would never recommend any untrained person to attempt the disentanglement of any animal, particularly of this size due to the dangers involved.
"It was hoped the whale would refloat itself as the tide rushed back in around it, but sadly after being disentangled it only took one more noticeable breath.
"When our Medics arrived, they monitored for a while to confirm whether the whale was still alive or not (sperm whales can hold their breath for up to two hours), but the lack of movement as the tide drew further in suggested that the whale had passed away.
"As the rope was tightly wrapped around its mouth restricting its ability to feed, the whale may have been malnourished for some time."
Experts are attending the body to take samples and assess the cause of death further.
This is the latest in a spate of whale entanglements, rescues, and deaths, on Scotland’s West Coast this winter.
Before Christmas, a humpback whale entangled by creel lines near Inveraray in Loch Fyne was cut free in an "extremely dangerous" rescue by UK divers who rushed up to help from as far as 600 miles away.
BDMLR explained: "The humpback was entangled to the sea bed, along with loose wraps of line around its entire body, two lines wrapped tightly around its head and one looped and twisted twice through its mouth.
"Cut by cut, the lines were removed. It quickly swam away and was seen a short while later free swimming. An exhausted, but disentangled whale."
Incident commander Martin ’Boonie’ Boon added: "It was a great result. We do not always get the outcome we want, but when we do, it is a fantastic feeling - also to come back with no injuries.
"It is extremely dangerous. There is a massive amount of power. They are 40 tonnes. They can tip the boat. They can breach the water - the damage that can do to a human!
"And the risk if you do something wrong and get caught up in the entanglement, you are going to drown. They can hold their breath longer than we can.
"Rescues like this are extremely dangerous and a massive undertaking. Mobilising our team to every possible rescue alert costs us thousands of pounds every year. Please consider donating to our team’s efforts to help them replace kit and get them to where they are needed."
You can donate to BDMLR via its JustGiving fundraising page and its website here.
In January, a humpback whale that had become entangled in a fish farm mooring off Skye was freed following a rescue operation.
Organic Sea Harvest said: “Our farm staff, supported by expert divers from BDMLR, worked tirelessly since discovering the whale. This is the outcome we had all hoped for and worked towards.
"During the rescue it became clear that the whale had previously been entangled and was carrying old ropes of a type not used by Organic Sea Harvest. It was this existing entangled rope which caught onto the farm moorings as it swam by.
"Thankfully the BDMLR team were not only able to free the whale from the salmon farm, but they were also able to free it of the other ropes it had been carrying.”
Last month, another entangled humpback whale off Skye was cut free by local fishermen, and down the coast on the Mull of Kintyre, concerns were raised over the impact of lost and discarded fishing gear after a humpback whale washed up dead near Skipness.
The young male, measuring 10.5m in length, was discovered deceased on the shore near the ferry terminal at Claonaig, with very deep wounds around its tail, as well as other lighter rope marks, all of which indicate that it became entangled in the water.
Ellie MacLennan, project coordinator for the Scottish Entanglement Alliance, said: “We have had an unusual number of entanglement cases involving humpback whales in the last two months, with four others reported along the west coast since Boxing Day.
“Two were successfully released alive by fishermen, one was successfully released by British Divers Marine Life Rescue, and one was free-swimming with no active entanglement, but scarring indicative of a recent and potentially serious encounter with some form of rope.
"These incidents are likely a result of more humpback activity in our inshore waters than previously documented.
“Why this is remains unclear but may be a result of whale populations recovering following the end of commercial whaling, and/or changing distributions of these animals likely linked to changes in prey availability and effects of climate change.
“These, in combination with an increase in the amount of fishing gear being deployed, and number of fish farms operating in inshore waters unfortunately means that entanglements may become more common.”
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Childcare and Education Worker - ARB15733 - Argyll and Bute Council
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JOBS
Childcare and Education Worker - ARB15733 - Argyll and Bute Council
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