Entangled Humpback Whale Freed Off Chatham

A badly entangled humpback whale known as "Thumper" was freed Monday off the coast of Chatham on Cape Cod by the Marine Animal Entanglement Response team (MAER) at the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS). The whale was with her young calf and had thick rope wrapped five times around her body, which CCS scientists believed was hindering her from feeding. The team spent an hour with the pair using a specially designed cutting grapple and were able to sever the wraps of rope. "Both Thumper, and her calf, were in poor condition indicating that the mother had likely been entangled for months," CCS said in an announcement of the disentanglement. "The prognosis for both whales is now much improved."
A private vessel from the Chatham Bars Inn sighted Thumper and her calf in the late morning on Monday about 10 miles east of Chatham Harbor. Thumper was able to swim freely while entangled. The vessel operators agreed to stand by the whales while the MAER team mounted a response out of Provincetown, MA. Sea conditions were poor and worsening.

When MAER team members arrived on the scene, they noted that Thumper was much thinner and paler than other current humpback mothers and also had wounds across her body and a heavy infestation of whale lice. The configuration of her entanglement likely made feeding very difficult. In turn, this would have made milk production for her calf equally difficult. Her calf was smaller and thinner than other calves seen in the area. Without intervention, the entanglement would have been lethal for both whales. Intervention however was complicated by Thumper’s calf.
Considering the sea state and forecast, the team considered adding a tracking buoy to the rope wrapped around Thumper but decided against it since that would pose an entanglement hazard for the calf. Instead, the team opted to use a grappling hook outfitted with extremely sharp blades which they threw into her entanglement. Then the team deployed a long tether and large float to the grappling hook, which created enough drag to create cutting capability. It took a few throws to attach to the entanglement, but once in place the buoy went slack within seconds and when Thumper returned to the surface for air, the ropes wrapped around her body were gone and both the mother and calf swam off to the east.