DESTRUCTION ISLAND — Rescuers have not found a whale which had been caught in commercial crab pot lines for two days, and say that means its ability to survive is less than promising.
The lone juvenile humpback was last seen on the move Thursday evening off the West End coast by a fisherman, only hours after rescuers aborted their first attempt to cut the jumble of lines and buoys from the entangled whale first discovered near Discovery Island.
A team from Olympia-based Cascadia Research Collective cut the lines around its body but was unable to remove them from its pectoral fin.
The three-member team returned Friday with an improved cutting tool but could not see the whale or locate a signal from a tracking device placed on it the day before.
The tracking device has a 10-mile range.
The good news is, said team leader John Calambokidis, is that the whale is no longer anchored in place by the crab pot gear.
Little chance of survival
But the bad news, he added, is it has little chance of surviving unless all of the lines are removed.
“Well, certainly if the whale remains in the condition we left it in [Thursday], that would not be a survivable condition for the whale,” he said.
“The only hope we have is . . . that [the lines] work their way free over time.”
If they do not come off on their own, the whale runs the risk of continually being anchored by crab pot gear caught on the ocean floor, said Erin Falcone, a biologist with Cascadia.
Calambokidis, a research biologist and one of the Cascadia founders, said that if the lines do not come off, they will eventually cut through the fin.
He said the team will respond to any further sightings of the whale and again attempt to free it.
Off coast of Ruby Beach
It was first seen by a fisherman Wednesday morning about eight nautical miles southwest of Destruction Island, off the coast of Ruby Beach, north of Kalaloch.
It had moved about two nautical miles north, while it wasn’t anchored, by Thursday morning, and an additional nautical mile that evening.
On Thursday, the approximately 35-foot-long whale, described by Calambokidis as having “a lot of spunk and life left in it,” remained calm as the team used hand-held knives and knives attached to poles to carefully cut the lines wrapped around it body from head to fluke.
“It was extremely tolerant of our presence,” he said.
“Our boat almost rested on the whale a few times.
“It went out of its way to avoid any harm to us as we tried to cut the lines free.”
But it also has seen its share of bumps and bruises.
The whale, Calambokidis said, had scars from orca attacks and from ship propellers.
“This whale had been through a number of things,” he said.
The additional cutting tool that the team needed was a hooked knife on a pole, which could cut through the lines by pulling on a rope.
The team could not sever the last lines with the cutting instruments that they had because the lines were under water.
Calambokidis said the team remained fairly upbeat, knowing it had done what it could to help the whale.
“We did find some challenges,” he said. “We thought we made some progress.”
“We hope to get another shot at it,” he added.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
