British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) – Humpback Whale Rescue in Iceland
Formed in 1988, British Divers Marine Life Rescue,
also known as BDMLR, emerged from the Centre
for Coastal Studies at Provincetown in the US, to
later set up their own Large Whale
Disentanglement Team in the UK. In July/August 2015, BDMLR performed their biggest
disentanglement to date on a humpback whale nicknamed “Nettie” in Iceland.
Nettie was first spotted near Reykjavik on 30th July. With a rope
through the mouth, down the back, crossed over the dorsal fin
and connected to the tail fluke, this severely restricted
movement was causing obvious distress. After local organisations
were unsuccessful in freeing the whale, the BDMLR team flew out to assist.
The search for Nettie was a long one, with weather
conditions delaying the operation further. Once Nettie was
sighted from the small Zodiac inflatable, several more
hours passed before a grapple was fastened to the trailing
line coming from the tail. With the help of the support
team, who calculated the intervals between Nettie’s
breaths, the grapple was thrown at the perfect time to attach the kegging buoys. These had
the purpose of slowing the frightened whale and pulling the team alongside so that
disentanglement work could get underway.
A series of ‘Nantucket sleigh-rides’ followed, the whale
pulling the team along at a speed of several knots with no
help from the engine. When Nettie dived, the team had to
release the rope to avoid be pulled under, starting the
frustrating process from scratch when Nettie resurfaced.
When the team were finally
within a metre of Nettie, they made several crucial cuts on
the line when the tail breached the water. But, due to the
quickly diminishing light, the decision was made to call off
the operation. The kegging buoys were replaced with a
satellite telemetry buoy and Nettie was tracked overnight.
By first light the following day, Nettie had travelled some 18km. The operation resumed
and, after several more fruitless hours of the whale diving out of reach, the team regrouped
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to form a new strategy. A large 4-foot buoy, formed from existing
disentanglement gear, was assembled in the hope of keeping Nettie
on the surface. This new rig provided a new separate control line,
allowing the original one to trail harmlessly behind.
The plan worked. Pulling themselves close to the were able to
sever the lines on both side of the tail stock as well as the trailing
line from underneath. Nettie swam free, escaping an almost
certain fatal entanglement. Due to the severity of the
entanglement, the rope embedded deep into the tail stock and a
bridle around Nettie’s head remained. The rope in Nettie’s tail stock cut so deep the spine
was clearly visible (see image). As both ends were cut, it is expected these will all be
naturally expelled over the healing process.
Previous documentation of freed entanglement victims gives
the team hope that Nettie will make a recovery. The amount
of support and concern for Nettie was astounding, with the
media following the disentanglement team’s every move and
celebrating their success. Whale watching boats in the area
continue to keep an eye out for Nettie and record sighting in the hope the whale fully
recovers from the ordeal.
All images: © British Divers Marine Life Rescue
T: +44 (0)1273 355011 W: www.worldcetaceanalliance.org
World Cetacean Alliance, Studio 3, Lower Promenade, Madeira Drive, Brighton, BN2 1ET, UK.
Registered Charity: 1160484