A dramatic humpback whale rescue, captured on camera, is just the latest in a rising number of whale entanglements off the British Columbia coast, experts say.
Rescuers located the whale near Powell River, B.C. on Monday. It was struggling to breathe after becoming trapped in nearly a kilometre of fishing rope weighed down by dozens of prawn traps.
"It was one of the worst entanglements I鈥檝e ever seen," Paul Cottrell of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans
"It was basically hog-tied. (The rope) was around the tail, all the way up, and through the mouth."
A group of boaters spotted the whale Sunday night and called the coast guard and the fisheries department.
Fortunately, a team of volunteers and department staff were able to free the animal after an hours-long rescue effort on Monday morning.
Without intervention, Cottrell said the whale would have died.
The number of entanglement incidents has grown, he said, as whale numbers have risen in recent years.
In Richmond, B.C., a local whale watching company is onto its 74th-straight day of successful sightings.
"That鈥檚 our best record so far," Cedric Towers, the owner of Vancouver Whale Watch, said. The previous record was 55 days.
On Monday, there was further proof of growing whale populations. A pod of five orcas swam into Vancouver鈥檚 Burrard Inlet, treating hundreds of spectators to a rare wildlife sighting.
Orcas don鈥檛 usually venture out of open water and so close to the city, but this pod was likely searching for seals to eat, said Tessa Danelesko of the B.C. Cetaceans Sightings Network.
While the sightings are exciting opportunities for tourists and marine scientists, they are also raise the risk of animals coming into contact with man-made technology, such as fishing nets, and becoming trapped or injured.
Cottrell said members of the public should call the Department of Fisheries and Oceans if they spot a marine animal in distress, and should not approach the animal themselves.
"Don鈥檛 engage or cut anything from a large whale,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e had that in the past and it hasn鈥檛 ended well."
Anybody who spots a struggling animal can also contact the B.C. Marine Mammal Response Network at 1-800-465-4336 or the B.C. Cetacean Sightings Network at 1-800-ISAWONE.
With files from CTV Vancouver's Scott Roberts
