Whale Disentanglement in Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary
Whales can be entangled for years until someone reports the entanglement to the right responders. Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary coordinates the community-based Hawaiian Islands Large Whale Entanglement Response Network. The network is part of the larger Pacific Islands Marine Mammal Response Network headed by NOAA Fisheries Service’ Pacific Islands Regional Office. The entire effort, plus associated monitoring, is overseen and authorized by NOAA Fisheries’ Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program.
Whale rescue is complex and dangerous for the whale rescuers as well as the animal. Do not try to disentangle a whale yourself. Response to entangled whales may only be attempted by persons who are experienced, trained, knowledgeable, have proper support and equipment, and are authorized under NOAA Fisheries’ MMHSRP permit. Learn about disentanglement in our new #EarthIsBlue video and continue learning by visiting https://hawaiihumpbackwhale.noaa.gov/protect/entanglement.html
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Historic whale and dolphin stranding data made public for the first time
Josh Davis - March 28, 2019
Between 1913 and 1989, the coastguard, fishermen and members of the public sent the Museum their sightings of whale and dolphin strandings from around the UK coast. Now for the first time this data is being made public, allowing anyone to search the historic cetacean (whale, dolphin and porpoise) strandings records. Ellen Coombs is studying whale evolution for her PhD at the Museum, and has been delving into the strandings data to see what can be learnt from these historic records as part of a new scientific paper.
'It is one of the longest systematic cetacean stranding data sets in the world,' says Ellen.
Between 1913 and 1989, all records of stranded whales and dolphins on UK shores were sent to the Museum. Since 1990, the dedicated UK Cetacean Stranding Investigation Programme (CSIP), funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, took over the recording of these data, although strandings can still be reported to the Museum. Around the same time, the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group was set up in Ireland to record cetacean strandings there.
In the 106 years represented by the full data set, there have been more than 20,000 reported strandings from 28 different species of cetacean. There are about 90 cetacean species in the world - so roughly a third of them have been spotted in UK waters. The majority of these strandings represent the most common species found in UK waters: the harbour porpoise, short-beaked common dolphin and long-finned pilot whale.
Yet the benefit of strandings records, as opposed to counting living whales and dolphins, is the opportunity to document rarer, shyer and more transient species that may be found around the country. Hidden among the records are some more unusual sightings, including some of the deepest-diving mammals in the world. Cuvier's beaked whale has been known to descend 2,992 metres for up to 137 minutes at a time. It's rarely sighted on the surface, but the species does keep cropping up in the stranding records.
Similarly, while there was a lot of excitement surrounding the appearance of Benny the beluga in the Thames estuary this winter, there are actually two other records of beluga washing ashore in the UK in 1932 and 2014, while in 1949 two narwhals stranded.
Recording whale extinctions
Researchers are able to use strandings data to track whale population numbers. Paradoxically, if more dead whales wash up on beaches, it is often a sign of a thriving population. If no cetaceans are spotted (even dead ones), it may indicate their numbers are struggling. One of the most poignant moments recorded in the data set is the loss of blue whales from around the British Isles. The largest animals ever to have lived, they once migrated through UK waters - until they were the target of intense hunting at the start of the twentieth century, which decimated their numbers.
The last blue whale to strand in the UK washed up in 1957, nine years before nations agreed on a global ban on hunting the cetaceans. But the blue whales were not alone in being targeted. Whalers concentrated on most of the large whale species, particularly baleen whales. These include more familiar species such as humpback and minke, but also sei and fin whales.
'There was a drop in baleen whale standings after the Second World War,' says Ellen. 'We speculate that this was because of a huge increase in post-war whaling and fishing to feed and fuel the starving population of Europe.
'We know that fishing and whaling increased in the 1950s, and we found that there were even a few years in this decade where we had no baleen whale standings at all. This downward trend continued into the 1960s as numbers of baleen whales remained low.'
In recent years the numbers of cetacean strandings being recorded have been on the rise. This might not sound like a good thing, but could be down to a number of positive factors. The first is simply that there are more people aware of the UK's marine life and recording what they find on the beaches. The ubiquitous use of smartphones means that not only are people more likely to positively identify what they find, they are also more likely to report it to the correct organisations.
It could also represent an increase in the overall numbers of cetaceans now living around the British Isles, although it is important to note that this is not easy to prove. There has been a corresponding increase in the number of whale and dolphin sightings in general, however.
Diving deeper
With this research, Ellen has only scratched the surface of what can be done with the data. 'The level of detail in the 20,000 records is mind-blowing, especially since 1990, when it started being recorded by CSIP,' explains Ellen. 'There is so much information in the data. The scope is just huge. In many of the modern records you get incredibly fine scale details for some specimens, such as testicle size.
'This means that the possibilities of what you could do with the data are incredible.' The data could be used to focus on a smaller time period or narrowed down to just a single species. This could then be compared to timings of military sonar exercises, for example, or levels of by-catch over the same period, potentially showing any relationships that may or may not exist between human activity and cetacean strandings.
The records also underscore the importance of the stranding network and the vital need to keep it funded. Not only does the data give insight into the presence and distribution of cetaceans, it can also help answer questions ranging from the parasitology of these animals to their relationship with their environment. 'It is very important for conservation around the UK, as you want to know where cetaceans are stranding and why,' explains Ellen. 'If all of a sudden a species disappears, it says a lot about the health of the oceans.'
Thursday night October 25th, a Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) stranded on the coast of De Haan (Belgium). This is the second largest mammal species living on earth! It is the first of his kind to strand in Belgium since 1997. Experts of the universities of Ghent and Liège and of our Institute (@rbins) took samples to investigate the presence of virusses and bacteria, heavy metals and other pollutants.
It was a male of 18m. The reason of death is yet to be determined, but the animal clearly lost a lot of weight, with fatty tissue layer of only 3 cm; usually this is about 10 cm. The cadaver has been cleared and is brought to a company who will process it to be used in biodiesel and biomass plants.
(Pictures: RBINS, Siska Van Parijs and Jan Haelters)
The age-old mystery of why otherwise healthy dolphins, whales and porpoises get stranded along coasts worldwide deepens: After a collaboration between our scientists and marine biologists, new research suggests space weather is not the primary cause of animal beachings — but the research continues. The collaboration is now seeking others to join their search for the factors that send ocean mammals off course, in the hopes of perhaps one day predicting strandings before they happen.
Scientists have long sought the answer to why such animals get beached, and one recent collaboration hoped to find a clear-cut solution: Scientists from a cross-section of fields pooled massive data sets to see if disturbances to the magnetic field around Earth could be what confuses these sea creatures, known as cetaceans. Cetaceans are thought to use Earth's magnetic field to navigate. Since intense solar storms can disturb the magnetic field, the scientists wanted to determine whether they could, by extension, actually interfere with animals' internal compasses and lead them astray.
During this first attempt, the scientists – from our Goddard Space Flight Center; the International Fund for Animal Welfare, or IFAW; and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM – were not able to hammer down a causal connection. Now, the team is opening their study up much wider: They're asking other scientists to participate in their work and contribute data to the search for the complex set of causes for such strandings.
Read the story: https://www.nasa.gov/beachings
Watch this video on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/1cAiLKP2F-U
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Are Solar Storms Causing Mysterious Sea Animal Beachings?
Why do otherwise healthy sea creatures end up stranded along coastal areas around the world? NASA scientists are searching for the answer.
Whales, dolphins and porpoises — known collectively as cetaceans — partially use magnetic-field sensing to navigate. According to NASA scientists, one explanation for these mysterious strandings could be that the animals' internal compasses become confused during severe solar storms, which affect Earth’s magnetic fields, and so they lose their way. To investigate this marine mystery, NASA has launched a study that will determine whether there is a link between solar storms and animal beachings.
Veterinarians assist during the necropsy of a humpback whale calf that was stranded on Baranof Island, Alaska. Credit: Alicia Jensen/NOAA/NMFS/AKFSC via NASA
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Dead killer whale washed up on Shetland's coastline
Dec. 17, 2017
Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary on facebook:
On Thursday we were called out to find a second dead killer whale washed up on Shetland's coastline this year. In January we went to a female with a prolapsed uterus on the uninhabited isle of Linga on the westside. This week we came across this juvenile male in Eshaness, washed a long way up the banks by Storm Caroline a week earlier. Very sad, as it was one of Shetland's young orcas, and there aren't many young orcas in Europe, let alone the UK. We took samples for Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme who are hoping to carry out a full autopsy to establish the cause of death.
Thank goodness we were blessed with a "day atween wadders" with the sun shining, flat calm, two herons in the bay as well as grey seals mating right in front of us, not to mention rainbows! Magical.
40-ton whale dies amid wave of strandings off coast of Washington state
A 40-ton whale died after becoming stranded on Washington’s Samish Island, becoming the latest in a string of whale deaths along the state’s coastline.
The whale became stranded on the island’s gravel beach on Monday night, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s regional branch said on social media. Researchers from local organizations responded on Tuesday morning, but the whale had…
