Whale Migration... LightHawk Helping to Reduce Entanglement

Today on a LightHawk combined IFR/VFR flight, we’ll be conducting an aerial survey of literally thousands of lobster and crab trap lines that endanger the migrating whales. Working with the Ocean Defenders Alliance, we hope to reduce the incidence of whale entanglement. Welcome aboard! Wayne, GeezerGeek Pilot

 

You surveyed “literally thousands” of lobster traps and you want people to virtually watch.

 

How many whales actually encounter death or harm?

 

it was actually quite interesting, both from a pilotage POV and the mission itself.

 

Good question... I'll check with my passenger/observer to get some metrics on the number of whale entanglements.

 

Uh, it was an observation of an observer’s use of the word “literally” and how, through an offering of a video, it was submitted for virtual viewing. Hope this clears it up. Whales are cool. Ales are cold. Save one, savor the other. Good times.

 

Technically could've been littorally thousands

 

VERY good!
Definition of littoral
: of, relating to, or situated or growing on or near a shore especially of the sea

 

What's the plan to reduce "entanglement"?

 

Domenick, my understanding (I was just the pilot on this outing) is that the ODA plan and effort is multi-fold:

• catalog where the traps are to assure that the commercial trappers are abiding by existing regulations/agreements on location and density of traps. My understanding is that the "density" of the trap lines is the parameter that most affects entanglement.
• dive in areas of dense trap lines, determine which of the traps are abandoned (est ~10%).
• float abandoned traps and other sea debris for removal by ship.
• recycle or dispose of the debris responsibly.
• lobby for funding of more responsible trap access methods (e.g. remote control mechanisms for trap surfacing, rather than tether lines).

A bit more detail on the ODA site.

Related: Here's an article on "Ropeless" trap retrieval.

 

Mostly quite reasonable. I do a lot of wreck diving, and am quite familiar with areas of dense trap lines, and abandoned traps--shipwrecks provide great lobster habitat, and so they attract the lobstermen. It can get to be a bit of a mess underwater, and the lines do take a toll on marine mammals.

I'm skeptical about remote trap access being feasible. Putting battery operated acoustic modems on every trap, signaling position from an attached GPS receiver, and able to either deploy a coiled rope and float, or fill a lift bag with compressed gas or use some other variable buoyancy system will be enormously expensive. Making electronics work for long periods of time submerged in salt water isn't cheap, nor is engineering the mechanical components to work reliably. Trap prices would increase by some enormous multiplier, and the shellfish market can't support it.

Also, though I didn't see mention of it in the article, GPS signals don't penetrate water. The acoustic modems may work fine (hopefully not interfering with marine mammal communication), but they'd have no way to get position data.

 

Gary, now that's experienced insight! For those of us ignorant on the topic (closest I've ever been to an active lobster or crab trap was +700' MSL on this flight), you've done a nice job clarifying that this entanglement is... (1) a legit problem and (2) a difficult problem to mitigate... hopefully not intractable. Seems the problem is worth working, as there are lives and livelihoods -- of whales and humans -- at stake.

Thanks for contributing to this discussion,
Wayne

 

Some info and references from my friend Kurt at Ocean Defenders Alliance on metrics and mitigation:

• NOAA Whale Entanglement -- Dashboard
• NOAA Whale Entanglement -- Indicators -- looks like for US west coast migration, there are about 30-to-50 reported entanglements per year
• How to tell if a trap is abandoned?

 

Around here they delay the Dungeness crab season until the whales are done migrating.

 

Does the last whale through carry some sort of flag?

 

No. It calls an all clear on the radio. They're really smart.

 

AWITMPA

Any whales in the migration please advise.

Last call!

 

I guess one of them made the last call...

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea...ens-up-commercial-Dungeness-crab-16705615.php

 

I love lobster and crab. Y’all can probably figure out where my loyalties are in this discussion.

 

I crab every summer for Dungeness crab off my kayak in Puget Sound. The crabs are named after the Dungeness Spit in Puget Sound. 48.174200° -123.147163°

Here's my boat rigged for crab:


And here's a haul. It was immediately culled for the catch-limit of legal-sized males:

 

Im pretty sure I saw at least one of those guys from your crab kennel in a movie with Sigourney Weaver.

 

I love crab, and lobster. I even took one of those touristy lobster boat demos when I was in Maine a couple months ago.