Teens spearhead rescue of entangled humpback whale in The Bahamas

Photo by Patricia Aulin published on www.eleutheranews.com

Two young teens, Jake Aulin (13) and Kirk Jr. Aulin (16) with the assistance of their mother, Patricia Aulin, spearheaded a Boxing Day (Dec 26, 2009) rescue in the Bahamas that has attracted the attention of Biologists and Whale activists.

The Aulins, were returning from a fishing trip with their mom in their 34ft boat, off North Eleuthera in the Central Bahamas when they spotted what they thought may have been a whale blowing fairly close to the island of Spanish Wells. Upon closer inspection, they discovered it was a humpback whale that was badly entangled in a fishing net.

Driven by courage and compassion the boys then undertook the very dangerous task of attempting to free the whale, a move that experts say should be attempted by professionals given the inherent safety concerns. Using a gaff to cut through the net, they managed to remove all but two of the ropes which were along the 40ft barnacle covered humpback. At that point the whale, with more degrees of freedom, started making diving actions and even after trying for an additional 1.5 hours they were not able to completely free him.

They were not about to give up however. They then called upon a Bahamian fisherman they had seen out fishing, who subsequently arrived with another captain in a 22' boat. After exhausting all other options, one of the captains, referred to as "Tyson" from Spanish Wells, Eleuthera, donned his diving gear and jumped onto the mammal to cut the remaining tethers. The freed whale then reportedly went into a dive leaving both the net and the very pleased rescuers behind.

An intriguing aspect of this entire rescue which has come to the attention of our staff since the article first appeared in The Eleutheran, was that the mammal was most likely not caught in the net of a Bahamian fisherman but may have been entangled off the coast of the Northern United States and probably endured the struggle as he migrated southward ending up very tired in the Bahamas.

Kirk Aulin, the boys' father runs the Cove Hotel, in Central Eleuthera where they are affectionately known as the "Cove Boys".