October 24, 2018 — The Oregon crab industry is putting up money to launch a new research study on where whales swim and feed along the Pacific Coast. The study stems from growing concern West Coast-wide about whales getting tangled in fishing gear.

Many of the confirmed entanglements in the last few years involved whales snagging crab pot lines.

The Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to underwrite the first year of a three-year aerial survey of humpbacks, gray whales and blue whales off the coast. Oregon State University researcher Leigh Torres said the Marine Mammal Institute, which she leads, and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife hope to win a federal grant to cover years two and three.

“One of the best known ways to reduce whale entanglements is to reduce the overlap between where fishing gear is and where whales are,” Torres said. “In the state of Oregon, we have pretty good information about where the fishing gear is, but not that great information about whale distribution in our waters. So that is really the knowledge gap that this project wants to fill.”

Torres said the best way to track whales is typically from the air.

“But hiring a plane to fly regular surveys monthly over a long period can be quite costly,” Torres said in an interview Tuesday. “So we were trying to brainstorm about ways to do that more cost effectively. And we had the idea to reach out to the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Torres said she was uncertain if the Coast Guard would let whale spotters ride along on routine helicopter patrols twice per month. She was delighted when her request was greeted positively.

Read the full story at Spokane Public Radio