Conservation

Alaska Whale Foundation is in a unique position as a conservation and research foundation. Besides conducting research that will inform management and conservation agencies about threats to marine mammals and the Alaska marine ecosystem (see our projects on Hobart Bay and the effects of human generated noise on whale behavior), we also participate directly in whale conservation on the individual level. AWF is a government trained and approved member of the Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Network. At the request of the NMFS Office of Protected Resources, we respond to the need to disentangle whales from fishing gear and other manmade equipment they interact with in their environment. When you donate to AWF, you can be confident that your gift is going to benefit marine mammals in a very direct way as well as supporting scientific research to preserve marine mammals over the long term. Marine mammal entanglements and strandings often take one of four forms: An animal moving with equipment and/or lines attached An animal entangled and stationary in equipment and/or lines An animal that is diseased or sick A deceased animal for which the cause of death needs to be established Entanglement is a serious problem for whales in Alaska. A recent study by our colleague, Janet Neilson, at University of Alaska, Southeast, has found that greater than 65% of the humpback whale population in Southeast Alaska bears scars and marks that indicate interaction with fishing gear. In the mildest situations, an animal may get caught in or pick up some light gear that it can free itself from. In worst cast situations, marine mammals suffer and die from starvation, infection, or drowning. If trained professionals can get to animals that are entangled, the gear can be removed. Freeing marine mammals from gear requires special equipment, patience, and skill. While we will present some methods and pictures for disentangling, it is imperative that untrained and unauthorized individuals do not attempt to disentangle animals that they encounter due to the extreme danger disentangling presents to both the people and the animals. AWF has one of the most experienced disentanglement teams on the West Coast of North America. AWF has a volunteer officer, Sara Graef (pictured left), who is our Disentanglement Coordinator. During the field season, Sara is the primary contact for the organization. She interacts closely with the NMFS Office of Protected Resources marine mammal coordinator in Juneau, Alaska; this Federal Goverment office authorizes AWF to approach, evaluate, and aid marine mamals that are entangled or stranded. Sara keeps information flowing freely between NMFS and the AWF disentanglement team. If she can be on site when an incident occurs, she acts as the Incident Commander that oversees the activities of the parties involved in the rescue.

Read about disentanglement efforts that involved AWF: Successful disentanglement of an adult whale in August 2006 Removing lines from a calf in August 2004

AWF approaches entangled whales in small inflatable boats that are maneuverable and less threatening than large boats with big powerful motors. This limits the number of people that can operate at one time, and requires the team to work well together to be safe and efficient.   At the right, Fred Sharpe and colleague, Jan Straley, prepare to approach a whale with a special cutting tool on the end of a pole. They are using our 12' inflatable, M/V Wenz's Boing, equipped with a Honda 45 hp four-stroke outboard motor.   When AWF speaks with the public about disentanglement, we often get two questions: 1) How do you get stuff off whales if they are swimming around? and 2) Do you get in the water with the whales? To answer the first question, one of the initial things we try to do with a whale that is entangled is slow them down and keep them near the surface of the water. Since whales are mammals and therefore need to breathe air, we use the fact that tired, ill, or injured whales tend to stay near the surface rather than dive to depth, because it requires energy for whales to come back to the surface from depth. We attach floats, known as "Norwegians", to the whale in a process known as "kegging." These floats are attached using special tools and poles that allow us to attach the floats to the equipment on a whale without leaving the boat.     Some member of the disentanglement crew, from left to right, Sean Hanser, Sara Graef, Kathi Koontz, and Pieter Folkens in M/V Vaquita getting ready for a trip from the town of Tenakee Warm Springs, on Upper Chatham Strait, to rescue an entangled whale near the town of Kake in Frederick Sound. Picture taken September 2004. Note the large buoys, called "Norwegians," strapped to the back of the boat. After enough floats have been attached to fatigue a whale out and keep it at the surface, AWF uses special tools designed by biologists at the Center for Coastal Studies - a group of scientists that have been dealing with whale disentanglement on the East Coast of North America for many years. These tools are designed to have cutting edges that will cut equipment and not injure the whale. A special grappling hook-type cutting tool is pictured to the right. These tools allow us to perform the disentanglements without entering the water, as being in the water with a distressed whale can be a dangerous situation. Whales are large enough and powerful enough to possibly harm divers with even the most subtle and seemingly benign movements. We have found that patience and persistence can allow us to disentangle animals in even some of the most challenging circumstances. Why is it so important to recue individual marine mammals from life-threatening situations? Some conservationists would argue that saving animals at the individual level is not a suitable method for ensuring the longevity of the population as a whole and that effort should be focused on management methods that operate at a larger scale and affect the entire population. While these are valid concerns, large-scale action requires participation from many stake holders, and it often requires an extended amount of time to evaluate whether management plans are having the desired effect. Legally, the U.S. Federal Government is required to use a variety of methods to preserve species that are on the Endangered Species List and to have a recovery plan in place, such as with the Steller sea lion and humpback whale. You can see recovery plans at the NOAA Fisheries web site.       In addition, Sean Hanser and Fred Sharp's research on social network analysis in humpback whales is preliminarily starting to suggest that there could be some individuals in humpback whale communities that are key members. Therefore, saving these individuals, should they become entangled, could provide enhanced benefits to a specific group of whales. There are many examples in the published scientific literature that document that killer whales live in matrilinear groups (groups in which the common relationship is through the genetic relationship of the females in the group). Several generations of a single family live together, and the elder females in the group are the repository of the greatest amount of the group's "cultural knowledge," for lack of a better term. If one of the grandmothers of a group were to succumb to premature death by entanglement, it could be a significant loss to a pod of killer whales. As was mentioned above, entanglement is a serious health threat to humpback whales. The sooner equipment can be removed, the more mild the effects of the entanglement are likely to be. The picture of the entangled humpback whale at the left was provided by our colleague, Ed Lyman, Marine Mammal Response Manager for the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. This same whale is pictured at the top of this page on the right side of the header. Ed and his colleagues at the Sanctuary removed the gear from this whale in February 2007. You can see from the pictures that the whale is emaciated; its body should be full and round, but instead you can see areas where the body is collapsing inward. In addition, this animal has an unhealthy light gray splotchy color, rather than the usual dark gray to black color. If you look at the picture at the top of the page, you can see that the lines dragging behind the whale have been rubbing against and scarring the top of the tail when the whale brings its fluke upward. The two pictures above and to the right show disentanglement pioneer David Matilla with the lines and fishing gear that came off of this whale. The whale dragged this gear all the way from Alaska to Hawaii. It is thought that the metal bars are broken off of a cage used for trapping crab (called a "crab pot"). Although it is wonderful that the team in Hawaii was able to remove the equipment, one of the saddest aspects of this story is that this whale was in Hawaii where the whales breed. During breeding season, scientists believe that humpback whales in Hawaii fast and focus on breeding behavior. It is thought that there are no good food sources for the whales. It is likely that this thin whale will probably have to wait until it can find some food along the migration back to Alaska. We are all hoping this whale makes it until that time. As stated several times above, entanglement can lead to lasting scars and disfigurement of whales. The fluke picture to the left has a significant scar on the left side that came from interaction with a line or net that probably remained on the animal for a significant period of time. If line becomes wrapped around a young animal, this can be a particularly dangerous situation, because the animal is still growing. As the whale gets bigger, unyielding line will dig into the flesh of the animal eventually causing deep wounds that can become infected and possibly even lead to death. Typically, rescuers will make entangled calves a priority because of this imminent danger and because of the unrealized potential of a young whale as a reproductive member of the population. Young whales, however, can present some challenges. Because mother whales are protective of their young, rescuers need to be vigilant about the behavior of the other whales around calves. By the time calves reach Alaska, they are independent and precocious enough to spend time at a distance from their mothers. This can make disentangling calves a little easier in Alaska than in Hawaii, where they are very young.       To the right is an image from a calf that had line wrapped around its tail. This whale was successfully disentangled in August 2004 by AWF members and University of Alaska Southeast disentanglers. The calf was between six and eight months old. By clicking on the picture you can see an enlarged version. When you look closely at the picture you can see the line that comes up over the top of the tail and the large tangled knot of rope hanging under the tail. The rope wrapped around the tail has already managed to dig into the leading edge of the tail and has scarred the top of the peduncle insertion. Some calves are less fortunate than this calf. The calf pictured at the left has seine net wrapped around its jaw and pectoral fin. Undoubtedly, this would inhibit eating. Entanglement is not the only way that whales can be injured or disfigured by humans. Direct interactions with vessels, either through collision or encountering a propeller, can be devastating. The whale pictured at the left, known as Scarface, is likely a victim of a ship strike. Either the boat was small enough or the speed was low enough to allow the whale to survive. When large boats come in contact with whales, the result is often the death of the whale. While it might seem ridiculous that whales would not be able to detect and stay clear of boats, it is not as simple as it may seem. First of all, since whales need to breathe air, they must come to the surface and therefore cannot escape entirely from activity at the surface of the water. In addition, there are acoustic tricks that the environment can play on whales. Whales depend more on their sense of hearing than they do on their eyes. One bioacoustic trick, known as Lloyd's Mirror Effect, causes the sound of a boat engine to be cancelled out in front of a vessel, thus making an area of relative quiescence directly in front of the boat. This can mean that a boat can be bearing down on a whale before it ever hears it or realizes the boat is there, particularly in low visibility conditions.       Preventing ship strikes though regulating boat traffic and speeds is a management issue that requires more research on whale movements, behavior, population dynamics, prey distribution, and noise created by vessels. Several AWF projects, including the Hobart Bay Project, Andy Szabo's Prey Abundance and Distribution Project, and Sean Hanser's Impacts of Anthropogenic Noise Project seek to address the lack of data on this important issue. You can support these projects directly when you give to AWF.