Experts still trying to find deadly fishing equipment
Posted July 12, 2012 8:07 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Experts are still trying to find out where the fishing equipment came from that killed a baby whale off White Rock beach.
Paul Cottrell from the Department of Fisheries says the gear didn’t come from our country.
“It’s long-line gear that was on the animal that was trailing through the mouth, and it’s definitely not Canadian gear, so it was likely picked up offshore.”
He speculates the gear may have come from the South Pacific.
“There wasn’t any other hooks or any other material that we could identify to a fishery, but the configuration is consistent with some of the offshore long line fisheries around the Hawaiian Islands and also over in Asia.”
Fishing lines were wrapped around the whale’s body and mouth, resulting in its death by starvation a month ago.
He says they can’t determine if the gear was tossed away in the water or lost while fishing.
