2014 Florida Volunteer Updates

As the North Atlantic right whales migrate to the South Georgia/Northern Florida coast each winter volunteers help watch for and capture critical details related to this endangered species. This information helps scientists track the fate of the species and acts as a first alert system to pilots in the shipping lanes to avoid accidental killings. This blog shares the findings, photos and other pertinent information gathered from the Palm Coast Sector Volunteer Team while helping to connect and communicate the many ways we can protect the right whales and sustain our wonderful ocean life.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

A Message for My Whale Buds


A friend just shared this story with me and I am passing it along to my whale watching friends... enjoy!


...The Whale... If you read a recent front page story of the San Francisco 
Chronicle, you would have read about a female humpback whale who had
become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was 
weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to 
struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope
wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her
mouth. A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farallon Islands 
(outside the Golden Gate) and radioed an environmental group for 
help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined 
that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and
untangle her. They worked for hours with curved knives and 
eventually freed her. When she was free, the divers say she swam in 
what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and 
every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently 
around as she was thanking them. Some said it was the most 
incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The guy who cut the 
rope out of her mouth said her eyes were following him the whole 
time, and he will never be the same. May you, and all those you 
love, be so blessed and fortunate to be surrounded by people who 
will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you. 
And, may you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude.
I pass this on to you, my friends, in the same spirit.


P.S. Just learned that this iS a true story that took place in December 2005.