The
Strait Story -- Dave Mattila's Tale
In
my twenty years of studying whales on the Stellwagen Bank, I’ve
gathered a lot of memories that make for great stories. These aren't
cowboy stories or epic tales of great voyages. If anything, my strongest
memories are of the subtle beauty of the Bank, and of the vast and still
largely unexplored world of its inhabitants.
One foggy summer
day in 1992, the Center for Coastal Studies got a call from a local
whalewatching company. One of their vessels had spotted a whale at the
furthest reaches of the Sanctuary that was entangled in the line and
buoy from a gill net. The whale, a juvenile male named "Strait," was
lying motionless at the surface, occasionally making a low
trumpeting noise from his blowhole--an indication of distress, some
believe.
We set out immediately
in two small Zodiac inflatable boats. In the late eighties, we had only
recently developed the technique to disentangle whales and had just
gotten officialauthorization from the National Marine Fisheries Service
to do it. Local whalewatching groups quickly learned to call on us if
they came across a snared whale. We did not yet have the kind of boats
and equipment for the job that we do today. The Zodiacs were the only
boats we had at our disposal.
It took us about
two hours to get out to the whale where a research vessel was standing
by. As we traveled, a dense fog surrounded the boat. As is sometimes
the case on a foggy or overcast day, the bounty of the Bank was visible
at the surface, as hundreds of birds swooped down to catch sand lance
(a small pencil-thin bait fish) feeding at the surface. As a bird passed,
a fish underneath it would jump to escape. The jumping fish looked like
so many rain drops underneath a cloud of birds.
We found Strait
about twenty miles from shore. We came in close enough to survey the
entanglement. I leaned over the side of the boat and through a mask,
looked at the lines. We cut the lines with a knife on a long pole--a
technique we still use so we don't have to send down a diver. But even
after we cut the lines that restrained him, Strait didn't budge an inch.
I had the feeling that he was in shock from the whole experience.
We decided we had
better get a closer look to rule out the possibility that the animal
was still somehow attached to line. But as I gazed under the water,
the boat drifted a little too close to the animal. My partner realized
our mistake; he revved the motor in preparation to move.
Without warning,
Strait picked up his 500 pound tail and ...CRASH!... slammed it down
on my half of the boat. Fortunately, I'd expected some kind of a reaction
from Strait when I heard the motor rev and had instinctively ducked
down into the boat. His tail landed right on top of me, but the wall
pontoons of the vessel protected me from its full force.
After he struck
the boat, Strait immediately swam away.
My partner and
I sat stunned for a few minutes. Then, realizing that no harm had been
done, we prepared for our triumphant return to land. We had (even if
unintentionally) broken Strait of his stupor, and twilight had begun
to set in on the Bank.
But our day was
far from over. The research vessel chose this time to tell us that they
wouldn't be returning to our harbor and couldn’t give us a much
needed tow back.
With scanty navigational
equipment and a long dark journey ahead, we set off for Provincetown.
We found our way back by following the moon, which peeked down on us
through a dense canopy of fog.
We have disentangled
over 30 whales since Strait. But somehow that foggy day still burns
in my memory--a true testament to the almost surreal beauty and, at
times, unexpected danger that resides at the Bank. But beyond that,
the rescue has come to symbolize just how fragile and poorly understood
the ocean environment can be. For such an immense animal to be in shock
over a tiny little rope seems unlikely. Still, nets disturb large whales
and other sea mammals all the time--much more often than we have suspected.
Such an experience truly underscores the importance of marine research.
Perhaps in time we will better understand these enigmatic creatures
and learn how to coexist peacefully in their world.
