• On June 8, 2001, a NOAA Fisheries airborne whale sighting team spotted an entangled North Atlantic right whale – later identified as male #1102 or Churchill – in the Great South Channel Critical Habitat Area east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts and northward of Georges Bank.

• On June 9, 2001, with the aid of the NOAA fisheries airborne team, the Center for Coastal Studies disentanglement team relocated #1102, documented his wounds and the entanglement, and tethered a buoy fitted with both satellite and VHF transmitters, weighing about 35 pounds, to a piece of the trailing line which exits the mouth on the left side of the animal. Line was visible exiting both sides of the mouth with the line on the right side considerably shorter. Because the line was deep into the upper jaw, rescuers felt that they could not remove or reduce the line without restraining the whale in some manner to make it safe for people to work near its head to cut the embedded line.

• On June 11, Center for Coastal Studies and NOAA Fisheries initiated consultations with whale biologists and veterinarians about the possibilities for disentangling this animal.

• From June 12-18, plans were made to sedate the whale and use a tail harness to safely restrain the animal. The rescue team eventually included the experienced disentanglement group, veterinarians, engineers and several experts in right whale behavior.

Five attempts to disentangle the whale #1102 were launched – June 19, 25, July 10 and 14. Three of these attempts were significantly hampered by weather. On only three of these attempts was the animal approached, and on only two occasions was sedation attempted. From the June 9 assessment to June 26 assessment, approximately 30 feet of line moved through the mouth – possibly due to the drag on the left line from the telemetry buoy and the animal opening its mouth. Currently there is no longer any line visible on the right side of the mouth. Since June 26, no further line has moved through the mouth even when more drag or pressure was put on the trailing line.

The whale remained within about 100 miles of Provincetown, Mass., and largely within the Great South Channel Critical Habitat Area, east of the Cape and north of Georges Bank, until July 15. At that time the animal started moving east northeast into Canadian waters. The U.S. rescue team, led by the Center for Coastal Studies, then worked closely with Canadian authorities to move the rescue effort into Canadian waters. The team was assisted by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans-Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard and the Canadian whale disentanglement network. Weather and oceanographic conditions in that area are difficult to predict, so the team had to be ready to mobilize on short notice. As the animal continued to move, the rescue team continued to monitor the animal and the weather.

• On July 15, right whale #1102 began to move to the north and east out of the Great South Channel in U.S. waters. He crossed into Canadian waters, traveled south of Sable Island, through the Laurentian Channel moving North/Northwest.

• On Aug. 1, the animal was 20 nautical miles from Cape North, Nova Scotia and 40 nautical miles from Channel Head, Newfoundland headed into Cabot Straits. There are 2,521 nautical miles between satellite fixes since June 9.

• As of Aug. 6, the animal had traveled along the eastern shore of Cape Breton across Canso Bank and was moving west.

NOAA Fisheries, 1315 East West Highway, SSMC3, Silver Spring, MD  20910