CHATHAM, Mass., — July 16, 2013 — Commercial fishermen are coming more and more to the aid of entangled whales, as new federal rules loom to protect the animals by limiting use of vertical lines in the water.
Last summer about 60 fishermen with the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen's Alliance took the first level of first responder whale disentanglement training. On Friday, 30 fishermen took the second of five levels of training, and a half-dozen plan to take a third level, possibly as soon as this summer.
The training is based on standards and protocols developed under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's large whale disentanglement program. Each level comes with an increased level of responsibility, training and skill.
"It's kind of silly to be out there and not help out with this thing," alliance member and Orleans resident Kurt Martin said Monday. Martin fishes for lobster out of Chatham. He took last summer's course and missed Friday's course at the last minute. He hopes to take that training and get to the third level.
Along the Atlantic coast there are thousands of level 1 and 2 responders but only 45 at Level 3; three are at Level 4 and seven have achieved Level 5, according to Maggie Mooney-Seus, spokesman for the NOAA Fisheries Service regional office in Gloucester. There are two Level 5 responders at the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, Mooney-Seus said.
The center is federally authorized to perform large whale disentanglement.
Read the full story by the Cape Cod Times