Ensnared Pilot Whale Calf

In early November, our partners at OCEANO Whale Watching repeatedly observed a family of pilot whales, among which a calf had become entangled in a line, presumably from fishing gear. The line had already tightly constricted the dorsal fin, causing significant deformation. Despite several attempts, it was not possible to approach the calf, as the evidently distressed young whale avoided all interaction.
As a result, a search and rescue team from the neighboring island of Tenerife was contacted. It turned out that the animal had already been sighted there several weeks earlier. After several more reports of sightings off the coast of La Gomera, the team arrived on the island on November 8th, but unfortunately, the affected pilot whale family could not be located again.
In the meantime, the calf has been sighted once more off southern Tenerife—this time, however, without the suspected fishing line. Whether the line was actively removed or detached on its own remains unclear. So, it seems this sad story may have found a good ending—at least if the young pilot whale manages to recover from the physical and emotional pain such an incident inevitably causes. At the same time, this case is a stark reminder that even in seemingly “remote” places like the Canary Islands, whales are suffering from marine pollution.