|
A more immediate issue is the safety of the rescuers themselves. In early August near Whyalla, South Australia, three commercial divers were suddenly cast as saviours when a right whale tangled in crab pots near where they worked on a fish farm.
"We did talk about the risks before we went in," said one of the men, Damian Grimm. "But we would have felt pretty bad if we just left it."
With little more than their snorkelling gear and diving knives they went down to the whale and cut the ropes away, particularly from its stubby pectoral fin where the nylon line has worked into a joint.
"I think it sensed we were trying to help, and it stayed pretty calm," Grimm said. "I only thought about sharks afterwards. A few white pointers have been seen around there . . ."
Professional rescuers and whale experts acknowledge the Whyalla men's courage, but shake their heads anyway. Burnell, who knows the species as well as any Australian, says it was a very dangerous undertaking to try to free a right whale. "If others try what they did, I suspect we could see people seriously hurt or killed."
Australia's few professional whale rescuers seems to be strange lineal descendants of Ahab, the 19th century pursuer of Moby Dick. They speak with a similar appreciation for the mood and nature of the animals, and re-employ techniques of early whalers. But instead of using hand-held harpoons, they have specially designed backwards cutting knives on poles to slice ropes.
They have their own rules, too. In WA, Coughran's team will not enter the water. If they can't reach a whale from the boat, they almost never get to it. "They are certainly giants, but they are not gentle. If they feel under threat, I can tell you they are very accurate with their tails, and hit very hard."
In contrast, the Sea World team repeatedly enters the water. Television footage of the humpback off Yamba clearly showed the whale's power as a pectoral fin swept one diver through the water like a finger against a tadpole. Team leader Trevor Long said there was no real threat, though. "We had no other choice but to dive in, if we were going to free the animal," he said.
Whether they dive in or not, it's likely the whales are going to need more of such people. "It is inevitable we will see more entanglements in the future," says Burnell. "I expect to see the right whales begin to use more of their historic range on the coastlines of NSW, Victoria and Tasmania, and that will expose them to more risk of entanglement."
In the face of this rising danger, some resources are being shared between states. For example, Coughran has trained Victorians at Warrnambool.
But Margi Prideaux, of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, says it is time a national emergency response program is created.
The Commonwealth has just given itself a larger role, too. Following the UN Convention on Migratory Species listing, it plans to develop a vast new South Pacific marine mammal protection zone. Entanglement is now on the agenda there.
|
