Tutu, a young humpback whale, has been successfully rescued and freed from over 150 meters of fishing gear near Vancouver Island. The rescue operation, led by the federal Fisheries Department, took place over three days with the help of the Cetus Research and Conservation Society.
The 4-1/2-year-old whale was initially spotted towing a fishing buoy near Texada Island in the northern Salish Sea on September 4. The rescue team, alerted by reports from the public, worked tirelessly to disentangle Tutu from the gear, a process that was documented in a social media video by the department.
After a successful first day of removing most of the gear, Tutu was located with a satellite tag and completely freed on September 6. Despite some minor abrasions on the flukes, the young whale’s condition was not considered life-threatening.
Paul Cottrell, the marine mammal coordinator, emphasized the importance of reporting any distressed whale sightings to the department’s marine mammal incident hotline for prompt assistance.