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American Morning

Researchers Make Another Effort to Unsnag Whale

Aired July 10, 2001 - 11:56   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: You might call it a whale of a house call. A rescue team is going to make a second attempt today -- actually, I think it's a third -- to give medical attention to an endangered Atlantic right whale off the coast of Massachusetts. A nylon fishing rope is embedded in the whale's jaw and is causing a serious infection. And joining is now by telephone is Teri Frady of the National Marine Fishery Service. Thank you for joining us.

TERI FRADY, NATIONAL MARINE FISHERY SERVICE: Good morning.

NELSON: Good morning. First of all, what is your goal today? What will you be doing?

FRADY: Our goal today is to attempt to get close enough to our whale in order to remove the entangling line that is still running through the baleen on both sides of the mouth and across the top part of the jaw, causing a very serious and potentially lethal wound.

NELSON: This whale, I think, is known as Churchill. Do you want to call it that?

FRADY: Well, you can call it that. Scientists typically will number right whales, so he's known to us, affectionately as 1102.

NELSON: OK, 1102 then. On June 26th, you had made two attempts and failed, and I understand at that time you were giving up because the whale was heading too far out to sea. What's changed all that?

FRADY: Well, we certainly had tried everything that we had on hand. What we're doing different this time is we're going to attempt the same process but using a different sedative combination in hopes that it will be effective. And fortunately for us, the whale has not taken his move north, which we would expect in these whales this time of year, but that could occur any time as their food source is breaking up offshore.

NELSON: So, how far offshore is the whale?

FRADY: Today, at our telemetry sighting that we have, he's about 50 miles east of the Fith of Cape Cod. So, that would be just off Provincetown to the east.

NELSON: Now, just walk us through exactly what you think is going to happen? You're going to inject the whale with the sedative, and then what?

FRADY: Well, the first thing we have to do is find him, and right now, we have the vessel is steaming toward the last telemetry point and we have an airborne crew, four people in a Cessna, who are looking for the VHF signal.

Then we'll assess the whale once we're on it. Get into the small rafts, see what we can that's changed about his condition, the wound, the character of the entanglement, make a decision about what else we can do, and it's very likely we will try this new sedative combination.

It's the sedative we used last time in stronger dosage, plus another sedative that also has some analgesic or pain-killing properties in hopes of slowing the while. We have some other options as well, using some buoys that would slow it down some and perhaps even towing the whale, if we can, in order to get him to slow down enough for us to approach the head safely.

If we can approach the head safely, what we'll do is either cut the line as it's entangled in the wound or at least make sure both sides of the line are free on either side of the mouth so that natural diving and swimming behavior can allow it to reject the line.

NELSON: A complicated job, we wish you the best of luck, Teri Frady.

FRADY: Thank you very much.

NELSON: Thank you for joining us today, and whale 1102 is sitting off the coast of Provincetown and let's wish him luck, too.

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