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Thought i would post this letter to the group that i recieved from Carl
Haycock. It is rather long but it tells it like it happened...We are in the
process now of analyzing pictures and video from Penny Graham that she took
that day. Hopefully we will find out what whale it was that was entangled.
Stay tuned...
My crewmates and I successfully disentangled a humpback whale this morning.
I have to give credit to the many seminars I have attended over the years on
the subject, David Mattila, my experience with humpbacks, my crewmates, and
the disentanglement gear and a few others who cannot be named. Today, Nov.
28th, while headed out to go lobster fishing in St. Mary's Bay, we
encountered a humpback whale that was tail breaching. My captain (Howard
Graham) noticed it first and alerted me. The time was 6:50 a.m. AST. It was
just after daylight. We were just 1 nm south of the southern passage (
Peter's Island ) Lat. 44.14.26 Long. 66.20.06 (off Greenhead). We went over
to have a look and noticed a large yellow balloon (buoy) and a smaller buoy
along side the whale. I groaned. After further observation we saw that the
whale was entangled in the buoy line of a lobster trawl. We could see the
buoys from the other end of the trawl nearby. (Trawls around here usually
have 15 to 20 traps with 50lb to 80lb anchors on each end. The depth of the
water at this location was 34 fathoms so there was certainly 70 fathoms of
buoy line on each end of the trawl). We noticed 2 wraps of line around the
girth of the whale midway between the blowhole and dorsal fin. We watched
for a few minutes as the whale would spyhop, stretch, and occasionally tail
breach but did not seem overly distressed. It would drift slowly north, then
drift slowly south. Obviously it was caught up in the buoy line of a trawl,
which is anchored on both ends. So the whale was limited in it's movement.
Other fishermen and I suggested that Howard call Fundy Coast Guard radio. He
called. They responded and we were told to stand by. We waited over an
hour... In the meantime I talked to Harold Graham, who was also fishing,
called Shelley Barnaby on her cell, called the Coast Guard station at
Northern Point (they were waiting for permission from Halifax) and talked to
Roy Graham who was fishing in the area and he came along to help monitor the
situation. His wife Penny was taking either video or photos at the time. (I
will talk to her when they get home.) We also contacted the owner of the
buoys/trawl, ("Bay Challenger" out of Freeport). He was miles away but gave
us permission to haul his gear if need be. My other crewmates were Floyd
Graham and Jason Graham. (Jason happened to have a disposable 35 mm on board
so I took a few shots of the entanglement and he took the rest.) Anyways, no
sign of the Coast guard. Howard finally got a call from Fundy Coast Guard on
the VHF and said Halifax had been alerted. We were told to STAND BY. We
were getting frustrated. I called Shelley again and she saw no movement of
the Coast Guard. (She was in Westport at the office.) All the while I was
being very patient. I think the whale probably got entangled overnight. The
whole fleet goes out that passage morning noon and night. It would have been
noticed otherwise. I was talking with Roy Graham on the VHF and we had
discussed hauling up one of the buoy lines and cutting off at least one
anchor. I suggested this as a last resort. Right now the whale was
"Restricted in his ability to manoeuvre," we have a much better chance to
get the deed done. He agreed. Roy went off to fish nearby and we stayed with
the animal. Here I am on the "Becky and Boys," (sister ship to the "Kenney &
Girls," whom you know intimately) tending an entangled whale. The whale was
going no where so we went in and got the gear ourselves. We headed back out.
We opened up the gear. I knew what I saw and knew what we needed. I think we
did 5 extensions. We attached the smallest cutting knife. Floyd and I put on
the gloves in the kit. Jason stood by. Howard used his good judgement (wind
was SW 20, seas 3-5') to manoeuver the boat. It took several attempts but
we finally got close enough so that I could attempt to snatch one of the 2
wraps. They were tight around the whale. Floyd was behind me holding on to
the back of the pole for support. I was not having success. He suggested
going under the rope from the back, but I disagreed and tried again to get
the rope from the front so I could pull back. I finally got hold and SNAP we
got one line. The whale was still alongside so I tried for the second line
and I got it, but it would not cut. Floyd and I yanked hard and it finally
came free but it did not cut the rope. After bringing the telescoping knife
aboard we saw that the blade was damaged. So we looked through the KIT and
saw another. We replaced it and tried again. Howard manoeuvred the boat and
we got alongside again and we were successful at cutting the second line,
again, which was across the girth of the whale. We all yelled in excitement.
Moments later as the whale slowly drifted off, we noticed the yellow
balloon/buoy was still floating along the whales back. We were patient, and
went around the whale slowly (because of wind and weather) and noticed that
rope from the balloon was sunk and wrapped around its right flipper. Our job
was not done! So Howard manoeuvred the boat around again (at this point the
"Chad & Sisters 2" came around to view the scene). At this point we
witnessed an amazing thing. The whale came alongside us, it came to us. We
had already cut the two lines around the girth and now needed to do more. I
think the whale knew that. It wanted us to help. So as the animal laid
there. It took all four of us after several attempts at gaffing the buoy,
trying to cut the rope with both a knife and the entanglement gear, but
finally we got the deed done. The whale sank, the buoy floated away and the
whale splashed and dove. We saw the animal again and it was free of gear. It
swam away. We were are so relieved and exhilarated and exhausted. We freed
the animal at 9:05 AST. It seemed like at eternity but once we had the
proper gear we had the deed done in 30 minutes. The whale helped and should
also deserve credit. Afterthoughts... I noticed lots of raw, red chaffing
on the peduncle. I initially thought it was more rope. The animal was 45',
big girth.
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<div>Thought i would post this letter to the group that i recieved fr=
om Carl Haycock. It is rather long but it tells it like it happened...We ar=
e in the process now of analyzing pictures and video from Penny Graham that=
she took that day. Hopefully we will find out what whale it was that was e=
ntangled. Stay tuned...</div>
<div><span style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'=
; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New