Whale Steals Boat

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flC5e...layer_embedded

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

OK so why does my link to youtube not show up? Sorry guys. This will have to wait till I get home

 

[MurrayM]

Yikes!

Hope the whale managed to drop the anchor soon afterwards. Can't imagine a more horrific death for a whale, to be drowned, exhausted, fighting to get to the surface for a breath as the anchor drags it into the deep...

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Well it seems to look right now. Work computers.....

 

[markpierce]

Wonder how this would have ended if an all-chain anchor line was used.

 

[Marin]

Wonder how this would have ended if an all-chain anchor line was used.

Proably wouldn't have gotten hung up in it the first place.

 

[HopCar]

Spyderco actually makes a knife blade for cutting rope off of whales. Talk about a special purpose tool!


There is an interesting story about how they came to make it on their website.
Spyderco Whale Rescue Blade

 

[BruceK]

Whales make an annual journey up and back down the east coast of Australia. They occasionally get caught in old nets,etc, so brave people in inflatables, with blades on shafts, go in to cut them free,even going into the water sometimes. Crews train for it.
Goes some way to make up for Japanese harpooning them after they make it back south to Antarctica.BruceK

 

[Marin]

That's great to hear, Bruce, that people are making that kind of effort to help the whales. I get really tired and pissed off to hear how we (man) make life harder than it already is for the other forms of life on this planet, particularly when there is no valid reason for it. So it's gratifying-- to me anyway--- to see examples of how we are making life a bit easier for them instead.

 

[Tidahapah]

One of our biggest problems for the wales on the East Coast of Australia is the shark nets we have deployed along our main surfing beaches.
Wales and calves are forever getting entangled in them but most often get released with help from our shore based protectors.
It is one good reason not to have these shark nets deployed.

 

[Arctic Traveller]

Yikes!

Hope the whale managed to drop the anchor soon afterwards. Can't imagine a more horrific death for a whale, to be drowned, exhausted, fighting to get to the surface for a breath as the anchor drags it into the deep...

Sadly, whale entanglements are not that uncommon here in Alaska. Some fisherman are now using "Whale pingers" Whale Pinger

These devices have been proven to reduce the number of entanglements, but it's still a problem. As for the one in the video, I seriously doubt that little anchor would be able to drag that huge beast underwater, but that's not to say it wouldn't be a big problem. I have personally seen a whale tangled up in a crab pot that survived for days before being cut loose by local volunteers. It actually seemed to know what was happening and sat totally still while they cut the lines. http://juneauempire.com/local/2011-08-18/noaa-rescues-humpback-whale-calf#.UGNI21HwFac

Arctic Traveller

 

[BruceK]

Tidahapah is right about whales and shark meshing nets, I wish it stopped.
Whale experts record whales passing up and down the coast year by year, distinguishing them by markings. This year a rare blue whale went by,and a whale gave birth in Sydney Harbour. There are keep off distances, greater for cow with calf, whales can`t read regulations and may come closer. Yesterday there was a photo in the newspaper of board riders and dolphins sharing waves at a Sydney beach.
Good news! The Japanese factory whaling mother-ship (why do they need a "factory" for scientific research???) needs repairs and there may be no antarctic whaling this year. May the repairs take forever. BruceK