Category: Uncategorized
Creel fishermen, rescue teams and researchers team up to tackle entanglement
In the first workshop of its kind in Europe, creel fishermen and women from around Scotland gathered in the Highlands to tackle the problem of marine animal entanglement. Organised by the Scottish Entanglement Alliance (SEA) and funded by the University Innovation Fund through Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), 20 creel fishermen and women from the Clyde […]
A double whammy of fatal entanglements this month
So far this month SEA project partners have already responded to three entanglement cases – one with a happy ending involving a humpback whale that was successfully freed from creel gear by SEA partners British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) with assistance from the local fishing community (see previous post). However the other two were […]
Humpback whale successfully disentangled in Orkney
A specially trained group of volunteers from British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR, a SEA project partner) were mobilised to assist a humpback whale entangled in fishing gear in Orkney on Monday 2nd October. The report was received from a local fisherman who discovered the animal anchored in his fishing ropes and did absolutely the […]
Lessons from across the pond – how fishermen in Canada are helping to save a species
A brilliant article about the work of our colleagues in Canada, working to save the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. There is a lot we can learn from other nations also working to prevent marine animal entanglements: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48998569 Entanglement in fishing lines and nets is a growing concern globally and is considered by many […]
Recent entanglements and next steps in mitigating these
We’ve been a bit quiet on here for the last few weeks but that’s not because SEA haven’t been up to much – quite the opposite in fact! Our project co-ordinator has now completed her interviews with Scottish inshore creel fishermen and based on feedback from these, plans are now underway to host a disentanglement […]
Coast to coast and sightings aplenty!
It’s been a busy few weeks travelling coast to coast from the industrial east to the wild west, but luckily the weather was (mostly) on my side. Also lucky was a bit of spare time between meetings, markets, interviews and office work to appreciate our coast and all it has to offer including stunning scenery […]
The unusual case of the Scrabster humpback….
On Thursday 30th May the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) team travelled north to perform a necropsy on yet another entangled whale, which was first spotted by a local fisherman floating at sea earlier in the week. This was a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), which stranded on Scrabster beach, Caithness. The young humpback […]
A busy month of whale entanglements in Scottish inshore waters
In recent weeks the Scottish Entanglement Alliance (SEA) has documented three fatal whale entanglements around the coast of Scotland. 23rd April 2019 The first of these was a juvenile male humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) that washed ashore at Tyninghame near Dunbar. This animal had first been reported entangled two months earlier by a concerned fisherman, […]
West coast entanglement
Last week the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS, www.strandings.org), a partner in the Scottish Entanglement Alliance (SEA), received a call about another whale entanglement – this time a minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) caught in ropes off the north-west coast of Scotland. The young minke whale spotted at sea, entangled around the head and mouth. […]
Update on the entangled Forth humpback whale, April 2019
This post was written by Ellie MacLennan, SEA project co-ordinator. On Tuesday 26th February a commercial fisherman working in the Forth contacted the Scottish Entanglement Alliance (SEA), concerned for the welfare of a humpback whale he had spotted entangled in lobster gear. British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR, a SEA partner) immediately deployed their Large […]