Scientists say fishing rope snags more whales

Despite the successful freeing of an entangled right whale on New Year's Eve, evidence is growing that more of the leviathans are being snagged by the thousands of miles of fishing rope off New England and the eastern seaboard.

In the mid-1990s, scientists estimated about 64 percent of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whales had scars from entanglements in fishing lines sometime in their lives. That number now hovers around 72 percent. Currently, federal scientists believe 13 right whales are swimming with fishing lines embedded in them, causing infection or death. Only 300 of the whales are left, so any death could be a devastating blow to the species.

"Entanglements seem to be increasing," said Bob Bowman, a member of the disentanglement team of the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown. "People say [freeing a whale] must make me feel great, but it makes me incredibly depressed. It means it is only the tip of the iceberg."

Center researchers, along with federal fishery scientists, helped in a dramatic effort to free Yellowfin, a 34-foot, 2-year-old right whale on New Year's Eve 30 miles off South Carolina. The whale was first spotted Dec. 5 off Virginia with lobster gear wrapped around its head and closing one of its 6-inch blow holes to the size of a quarter.

Scientists spent much of Friday morning attempting to slow the whale to unwrap the lobster lines from its head. To get the frantic animal to slow down enough for those involved to cut the rope, they attached buoys, two underwater parachutes, and, finally, a line followed by a 22-foot boat. Just as scientists prepared to get close to the animal's head to cut the gear, the rope broke, apparently from the tension caused by the weight it was dragging.

Freed from the entangling lines, Yellowfin disappeared below the surface, leaving ecstatic researchers behind holding 550 feet of lobster rope. A later aerial survey of Yellowfin, named for the Coast Guard cutter that tracked her, saw no sign of rope around her head.

"It went beyond our wildest expectations," said Barb Zoodsma, National Marine Fisheries Service coordinator for right whale recovery in the Southeast. "We thought the best we could do is make some cuts [to the rope] around the head."

New England hunters began killing right whales in the 1600s, using oil that oozed from the creatures' blubber for fuel and the whalebone from the upper jaws for whips and combs. Known as the "right" whale to kill, the mammals were easy to catch because they fed close to the surface and, once killed, their carcasses floated.

While fishermen haven't hunted right whales in more than a century, the whales have not made a comeback off New England, one of their prime feeding grounds. Scientists don't know all the reasons for the failure to recover, but say entanglements are a clear part of the problem, along with ship strikes, which killed two right whales in 2004. While there were no confirmed deaths from entanglements in 2004, scientists suspect a whale they tried to disentangle in March off South Carolina dubbed "Kingfisher" probably died and other entangled whales may have, too.

Federal fishery officials said that while the number of entanglements appears to have risen over a decade, they said there is not a clear picture of what is happening year to year, because many whales are not spotted annually. Data collection may also have improved since the 1990s. They also say new fishing gear that breaks away when whales hit it may mean more whales are injured from entanglements, but deaths may be down.

Whatever the reason, said Teri Frady of the National Marine Fisheries Service, "We need for it to stop happening."

The subject of entanglements is touchy for fishermen and conservationists. Federal fishery officials have tried to better protect the right whale in recent years by prohibiting fishing in swaths of the sea during certain times of the year and giving some fishermen new breakaway fishing gear. Still, conservationists say there isn't enough done to save the species. Meanwhile, fishermen say their livelihoods are squeezed by rules that force them to move fishing gear and lose thousands of dollars.

"This is a clash between two endangered species: The fishermen who use fixed fishing gear and the declining population of right whales," said Stormy Mayo of the Center for Coastal Studies; she helped free Yellowfin. "The success or failure to save these animals will be written in the general waters of New England."

Beth Daley can be reached at bdaley@globe.com.