News and Reports

A dramatic four-day rescue operation has successfully freed a humpback whale entangled in fishing gear in the Hecate Strait off British Columbia's North Coast.   

Paul Cottrell, marine mammal co-ordinator for Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), was conducting a necropsy on a deceased fin whale in Prince Rupert, B.C., when he was alerted to the distressed humpback's plight. 

"Our team was all there, all our equipment … so we actually went out with the satellite tag with the team and we were able to locate the whale," he told CBC's Radio West host Sarah Penton.