Whales
Posted by Andrew via Email at 10:40 PM, August 21, 2004
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| (C) Greenpeace |
We were sitting in our boat, watching a very efficient fishing operation. The purse seine net was in the water, the buoys kept tight and the mouth of the net open by skiffs (small boats) while 12 men and three cranes winched it in. It was quite early in the whole process, and not many fish were coming on board, when we saw two dark objects breach beside us. Dolphins?...no... Whales! Our videographer (Wooly) and photographer (Roger) pulled on their snorkel gear, got in the water, and identified the false killer whales (just a name, they really are whales, and killers but not too dangerous). I was lucky enough to slip into the water too, and turned to see a whale swimming towards, then right under me. I could hear them whistling and chattering to each other as another glided gracefully beside me. Duck-diving I came a little closer to it.
Larger photo
I climbed back on the inflatable, to see the net getting smaller and smaller as the winch and men were working to bring it in. The thrashing of fish within the net increased as panic set in, and the whales responded by circling the net - more of them arriving (word must have gotten out that lunch was nearly ready...).
We kept a very close eye on the net to ensure that there wasn't a whale inside, and thankfully didn't see any breaching in there. There were a few small sharks, which were thrown overboard pretty quickly by the fishermen.
The water was so clear that looking down from our boat we could see the whales snacking on the mostly dead fish floating in the water, thrown overboard as bycatch. They were mostly small fish, lots of rainbow runners glinted in the water. It was incredible to see the dark form of a whale delicately nibbling the silvery fish, blowing bubbles and breaching all around us.
Roger and Wooly got right up to the net, as it pulled tighter the fish inside desperately tried to escape. A lot of the smaller ones wiggled out, stretching net holes to maybe 10 centimetres. Some got stuck, but it was pretty gratifying to see many small ones escape. Yellowfin, and other fish too big to squeeze through, bit the net frantically - trying to chew their way out. On Wooly's video you can see the variety of marine life on its way to becoming bycatch - besides the rainbow runners some spotted triggerfish, a batfish and sharks. There wasn't a high survival rate for the fish crushed in the net, dragged on board and then thrown back.
Once the net is pulled almost all the way in, creating a bucket of fish, fishermen usually use a scoop net (called a brill net) to get their catch onto the deck. This time, one of the fishermen put on snorkel gear, and jumped in. After a quick look he signalled for his crewmates to haul up the whole thing. Not enough there to bother with the scoop. Most of it turned out to be commercially worthless bycatch, plus some mostly juvenile skipjack and yellowfin tuna. You feel a little bad for the wasted fish, and sorry for the fishermen with all their wasted effort.
At least the whales went away happy and full. Back on the Rainbow Warrior, we saw a few dolphins leaping into the air, obviously keen to join the party. A little too late, as by then the whales had moved on, there was just a cloud in the water where the net had been and the purse seiner was steaming off to find another place to set it's net.
-- Annette
[Editor's note - For more information about how whale and fish stocks affect each other, see our factsheet on the subject.]
