The rescue happened Friday in the northern part of the Strait of Georgia near Powell River, B.C.  the manufacture.
DFO staff initially received a call about an entangled whale towing a yellow buoy on Thursday near Nanaimo, BC, but were unable to locate it at the time.
DFO Marine Mammal Response member Paul Cottrell says the team was returning home from Nanaimo after their initial investigation when they received another report of a whale towing a yellow buoy, this time near Texada Island, Pa. X.
“Then we got a call on Friday morning. There was a whale watching team off Texas that saw a whale heading north pulling a buoy,” he said.
The whale watching vessel was able to track the location of the entangled whale until fisheries officers from Powell River arrived and fitted the animal with a satellite tag.
Cottrell’s team then drove to the scene from Vancouver and used a drone to help understand what was affecting the hump.
An image from the rescue appears.  (DFO)
Drone footage shows the distressed whale was accompanied by two other humpbacks.
“It was a really complicated rescue because this animal had pets,” Cottrell said.
“He was one animal at first and then he had three pets at one point, then for the majority of the rescue he had two animals with him,” she said.
Cottrell says the team was concerned the other whales would become entangled in the fishing gear trailing behind the entangled hump.
“So it was a lot of patience and really great work from the team to take their time and get the equipment out. [safely,]” he said.
Cottrell said the hunchback had 91 meters of polysteel rope stuck in its mouth and ball, which could have affected its ability to eat – or even be fatal if swallowed.
The rope is believed to have been part of recreational shrimp equipment.
An image from the rescue appears.  (DFO)
Cottrell says humpback whales are preparing to migrate to warmer waters, such as off the coast of Hawaii or Mexico, as winter approaches.
“So it’s great that this whale won’t have that equipment when it makes that trip,” he said.
Cottrell adds that it is always gratifying for the team to complete a rescue.
“With the drone we got a parting shot of the animal and his two companions zipping up – basically at sunset – because it was late in the day,” he said.

‘GHOST GEAR’

Alys Hoyland, with the Tofino-based Ocean Legacy Foundation, says discarded fishing gear is a huge source of ocean pollution and is at risk of entangling whales and other marine life.
He says conservationists would like to see more accountability for fishing gear that breaks down, accidentally falls from boats or is intentionally thrown into the ocean.
One step the federal government could take to reduce clumsy aquaculture gear is to implement a system that ensures fishing operations return with all the gear they left for the day, Hoyland says.
He adds that while it’s important to reduce single-use plastics, about 80 percent of ocean plastics come from lost fishing gear, sometimes called “ghost gear.”
“There is a disproportionate emphasis on single-use plastics and post-consumer waste,” he said.
Cottrell says he agrees ghost gear is a problem, but says organizations are working to invent safer gear every day.
“Hopefully over time with these pilot projects and the implementation of management measures we will reduce the number of entanglements in the future,” he said.
“It’s not just a Canadian issue, it’s an international issue,” Cottrell said, adding that much of the gear they remove from animals actually comes from the US and occasionally as far as Asia.