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We were traveling back through Squally Channel in our research vessel after a successful marine survey when Cam and Eva Hill called us on the radio. I had to slow the boat and ask Cam to repeat his message, for fear that I heard him correctly. His message came through loud and clear: they were with a whale, and it was entangled. We rushed back to the Fin Island Research Station to retrieve a satellite buoy while Cam reported what he was seeing to the coastguard. Within minutes, we were on the scene with Cam, Eva, and their family who had been watching this whale breach and tail lob repeatedly. We later realized this whale as “Marble” (BCX1713) – a whale that has been returning to Gitga’at Territory every year since 2015. Thankfully, by the time we approached, Marble had settled down – tired from trying to be free of the entangling gear.

We slowly came alongside Cam and Eva’s boat and made a plan for attaching the satellite buoy to the trailing line. We monitored Marbles behaviour carefully, knowing that we would have to approach without causing further stress to have any hope of successfully attaching the satellite tracker. While we watched Marble from a distance, we got a radio call from Braede who was at the Fin Island station and relaying updates to Janie, who herself was in contact with the government of Canada’s whale disentanglement team. We received word that they were on their way – but wouldn’t be able to be on scene until the evening of the following day due to the remoteness of the region. In that time Marble could easily disappear, and the importance of attaching the satellite buoy to give us all a chance to relocate her was weighing heavily on our minds, and motivating us to do all that we could for this whale.

Marble was completely still at the surface, and two small buoys attached to the end of the entangling rope had popped up behind her. This was the best-case scenario – the grapple on the satellite tag could hook on to the trailing buoys and give us hope to relocate and free this whale. We approached ever so slowly, drifting closer and closer. I guided our boat, and Cam was ready with the grapple. On our second attempt, we hooked the grapple on the satellite onto the trailing line, and Marble responded to the extra weight and drag of the satellite buoy immediately.

With forceful, tonal breaths at the surface, Marble took off – dragging the satellite buoy with her. She was moving so fast that the buoy was being held underwater, and couldn’t send its signals. We followed Marble as long as we could as she looped Squally Channel, went out into Otter, and then looped back. All the while, the satellite transmitter remained submerged. Weather and daylight were not on our side. Battling whitecaps and a setting sun, we knew that we would have to leave Marble soon. These moments were heart wrenching to watch. I couldn’t help but to wish that there was a way we could communicate with other species and let them know that we were there to help. To take a deep breath and try to relax as much as possible, and to stay put so that the rescue team could remove the gear as quick as possible to ease the suffering once they arrived. I didn’t sleep much that night, and when I did, I dreamt of Marble.

The next day we were back on the water early in the morning, having finally received a location from the satellite buoy – Marble had finally slowed enough for it to break the surface and send a signal! We raced to the last known location, but by the time we got there, a few hours had passed and Marble was nowhere in sight. We searched all day, along with Marven Robinson, Hermann Meuter from the Pacific Whale Society, and Gitga’at Guardians Shelby and George Fisher. We searched all day, documenting over 20 unique humpbacks, but none were Marble. Eventually, the wind howled through and forced us to end the search for the day. Feeling defeated, it was a quiet evening at the Fin Island Station.

On the third day, we were up at first light – waiting to hear if the satellite buoy had sent any updated locations. At 6am, our hope was restored. Marble was back in Squally Channel. I raced to get the boat as Zoey and Braede prepped all of our gear to head out on the water. Hermann was going to join us in the search again, giving us the best chance to relocate this whale. The disentanglement team were also on their way from Kitimat, and expected to arrive around 11am. By 7am, we were halfway across Squally Channel when we saw the first blow. After what had transpired the day before, I wasn’t getting my hopes up that this was Marble. As we slowly approached, the whale dove perpendicular to us. We typically identify whales by the undersides of their flukes, and with the direction this whale was facing, we were not able to see the fluke at all. I was just about to start to position the boat so that we were behind the whale for its next surfacing when, a few seconds later, we saw the little satellite transmitter sticking out of the water and dragging behind the whale. It was Marble! The first whale we stopped for. The relief and hope that filled the air was palpable. Less than a minute later, Hermann called us on the radio and was soon on his way to us to help to keep eyes on Marble until the disentanglement team arrived. We quickly put our drone in the air to help get a sense for where the rope was actually wrapped.

Once over the whale, my heart sank. Normally, when a humpback whale swims, we see its pectoral flippers moving and helping to guide it through the water. Marbles pectoral flippers were the source of the entanglement, and were pinned underneath the body. I could not begin to fathom the pain this must be causing, how it would impact Marble’s ability to feed, or the exhaustion from the extra energy needing to be spent to swim and dive. It was also clear this would be a difficult disentanglement. Just as I was bringing the drone back in, Hermann arrived, as did our next obstacle: thick fog.

Within minutes, we were surrounded. We could barely make out the water 100 meters in front of us, and Marble was routinely diving. Keeping up with her, even with both of our boats and expertise, seemed impossible. We separated ourselves with us staying behind Marbles last location, and Hermann to the East. Marble had been following a steady South heading, and we kept our bearing and hoped for the best.

7 minutes passed, and before we even saw Marble, the satellite buoy popped up above the surface. Using binoculars, we were able to keep an eye on it. Finally, Marble took a breath, and then another, and then dove back down – taking the satellite buoy with her. We kept our heading, and 7 minutes later, the same pattern repeated. This continued for 2 hours and miraculously we stayed with Marble the whole time. Luck was finally on our side. Around 10:30am the fog started to lift, and not long after Paul and Brendan Cottrell alongside fisheries officers arrived to begin the disentanglement effort.

Brendan hopped onto our vessel with plans to have a drone in the air the whole time to get a birds eye view of the situation and to communicate Marbles movements through a specialized headset. We followed at a distance to the fisheries vessel to act as safety support should something go wrong, as well as to keep an eye on Marble and her behaviours.

One thing that became clear very quickly: Marble did not like boat noise. Though we were able to follow her for hours at a very slow, consistent speed – as soon as another boat was added into the equation that had to make closer approaches, her behaviour changed dramatically. Marble was swimming faster, and taking longer dives, making it difficult to keep eyes on her. Around 4pm, we lost her.

Disentangling a whale is extremely dangerous and must be done by highly trained and experienced teams. Equally important is the knowledge of whale behaviour obtained by research teams through years of observation and study. Because Marble was entangled around the pectoral flippers, she was able to fully use her fluke – and was travelling too fast to allow for a safe disentanglement to occur. The first goal was to attach more buoys to the trailing line to add more drag to slow Marble down enough that the fisheries boat could get close enough to safely begin the disentanglement.

The satellite buoy was not able to send reliable locations as Marble was once again moving fast. We split up again. Between ourselves, Hermann, and the DFO team we were not able to relocate her. With heads hanging, we had to call it for the day. This was an immense blow. That we were able to remain with Marble through dense fog only to lose her in clear skies was felt by all. But, we weren’t giving up. We would try again in the morning.

With heavy eyelids, I made my way to our boat on the fourth day of trying to free Marble. I really did not know what to expect, but I knew we had to keep giving it our all to find and free this whale. We did not know how long Marble had already been entangled, but any amount of time was far too much and could have lasting consequences to her health.

Hannah, Zoey, and I set off towards the top of Lewis Passage and Wright Sound – Marbles last known location from the satellite ping. I don’t believe I had ever seen so many whales at the same time in these places. There were easily over 40 humpback and fin whales, and among all of them – we had to find 1 specific whale. Hermann was back on the water that morning as well continuing the search in further reaches of Wright Sound and Whale Channel. The fisheries team were once again on their way from Kitimat, and would be joining the search once they arrived. We searched for almost 4 hours before we got the call on the radio from Paul that not only had they found Marble, but they were able to attach the extra buoys and it was now a waiting game for Marble to slow enough so that they could go in and finally start to relieve and free this whale.

Before the relief came the most dangerous and emotional part of a disentanglement – the trailing line of gear behind Marble had to be attached to the fisheries boat to allow them to begin to work their way up the line and start to cut the gear free. This is a major reason why whale disentanglements are only to be done by highly trained individuals, the possibility of injury to the whale and the people working to free the whale could be high if not done correctly.

Once Marble realized she was now dragging the weight of a large vessel, she understandably began to panic. She tried to outswim the weight, was projecting haunting tonal blows above the surface, and began dragging the fisheries boat at a clip of 7 knots. Soon after, another humpback whale “Sheen” (BCY1002) arrived at Marbles side. Sheen stayed with Marble as she towed the fisheries boat for over an hour. Watching Sheen’s response was a true testament to the social bonds of humpback whales, and how much we truly do not understand about the depths that they will go to protect and stand by each other.

Finally, Marble slowed down. This was bittersweet as we knew it was from exhaustion, but we knew this meant her chance at freedom had arrived. Slowly, Paul and the fisheries team were able to work their way up the entangling line and make preparations to begin cutting. The difficult thing about the way Marble was entangled is that it wasn’t clear exactly how the line was wrapped around the pectoral flippers because they were pinned underneath her body.

Then, everything seemed to happen all at once. Paul made the first cut, releasing one of the buoys they had attached earlier. I moved our boat to retrieve it, and just as we hauled it onto our vessel, I turned and saw Marble heading straight towards us. Thinking she was still attached to the fisheries boat, I quickly moved into reverse to get out of the way! But out of the corner of our eyes, we saw what looked like celebration on the other boat. I turned to Brendan who was listening through his headset and frantically asked “are they still attached!?” just as he looked up at us and smiled, saying “no, she’s free.”

After 4 long days, and who knows how many before, Marble was finally swimming freely. I turned off our engine and let her pass us undisturbed. Brendan was able to get the drone over her one last time to confirm that all the gear was gone, and we all watched as she swam off with a new lease on life.

So much and so many people went into the success of freeing her, but it all started with Cam and Eva who immediately did the best possible thing: they reported the entanglement and did not try to cut any of the lines themselves. This is truly what saved Marble. Had the trailing line been cut, we would not have been able to attach the satellite buoy which allowed us to relocate her, nor would it have been possible for the disentanglement team to work to cut the wrapped lines. We are so grateful to all who were involved in this multi-day effort to save a whale, who recognize the importance of individuals, and how we must all come together to benefit this planet.

We slept soundly that night and saw Marble again not long after as she foraged, free at last, in Gitga’at Territory.

If you believe you have seen a whale, marine mammal, or turtle in distress in BC Waters: report it immediately by calling the DFO Marine Mammal Incident Reporting Line at 1-800-465-4336, or on the VHF radio using Channel 16.