A Vancouver Island whale watching group’s quest to see nature up close included some tense moments after their boat responded to a fisherman’s distress call involving a young orca ensnared in his gill net.
Bill and Nicole Mackay of Mackay Whale Watching had left Port Hardy around 10 a.m. Thursday with about 18 tourists from Australia, the Netherlands and Texas when their hydrophone began picking up “really odd” distress calls from an unseen pod of orcas. Soon after, a 60-something fisherman radioed in a mayday call after finding a young orca wrapped up in his net from its dorsal fin to its tail. The Mackays approached the nearby boat and offered moral support as the savvy fisherman did his best to untangle the young whale.
“The fisherman definitely did the right thing by calling the Coast Guard right away and he definitely knew what he was doing with his net,” Nicole Mackay said.
As the tourists watched in silence, Nicole took photos of the ordeal and captured six members of the whale’s pod as they looked on in visible distress.
Everyone thought the little whale was dead when it dove under the water and remained there for about 12 minutes — which is a long time for a young orca, Nicole Mackay said. Soon the panicked fisherman began hauling up the net and found the whale alive with only its tail caught. After carefully unwrapping its tail the orca swam off into a huddle with its family members, Nicole Mackay said.
Members of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans followed the pod for several hours afterward and found the young whale suffered scrapes but was otherwise OK, according to Mackay.
“They have such a strong family bond and you could definitely tell the whole group was distressed,” she said. “It was really hard to watch.”
