Achi news desk-
ZEBALLOS, BC –
Low tides kept rescuers from trying to rescue an orphaned whale calf stranded near a remote British Columbia community from the waters on Saturday, but Fisheries and Oceans Canada said officials are re-evaluating techniques used so far to determine what is next.
An email from the department’s spokesperson, Leri Davies, said the most promising tool used so far to lure the young animal out of a lagoon off Vancouver Island appears to be Oikomi metal pipes from a line of vessels that n be used as a “wall of sound.”
The long metal pipes are partially lowered into the water and hit with hammers to create noise and direct the whale towards a narrow exit point, across a shallow sand bar and back into the open ocean.
“The reality is that this is an extremely complex operation, in a dynamic and dangerous natural environment, working with limited timescales to ensure a rescue, and coping with wind, rain and changing tides,” said Davies.
“Having said that, the whale calf appears to be in good condition and monitoring of the whale’s health continues.”
Rescuers have said that the whale has come close to leaving the lagoon but has been reluctant to pass over the sandbar where his mother got stuck and died last week.
Other methods used so far include recorded whale calls, expert guide lines and Indigenous drumming.
The mother of the two-year-old calf died in the lagoon last weekend while local residents tried to free her. A necropsy of 15-year-old Bigg’s killer whale showed she was pregnant with a female fetus when she died.
Davies said that scientists were surprised at the way the calf has responded to the sounds of the whale’s calls.
“In the past, the sounds of playing underwater have been extremely effective as an attraction to move whales out of a potentially dangerous situation. For this whale calf … these proved to be a deterrent,” the email states.
“Once this was seen, attempts were made to use the sounds of the pods to try to move the whale calf towards the sand bar and the open ocean, unfortunately without success.”
Davies said the pipes are widely used to prevent marine mammals from oil spills.
The remote nature of where the calf is stranded, on the northwest tip of Vancouver Island near the small community of Zeballos, has presented its own set of challenges.
“The lagoon where the whale calf is trapped is even more remote and inaccessible,” he said.
“To help alleviate this, the local road contractor stepped up by making their large equipment available for the campaign, and the Ehattesaht First Nation and the local community have set up a temporary boat ramp to facilitate water access to the lagoon.”
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on March 30, 2024
