Humpback whale entangled in fishing gear freed off Vancouver Island coast

Crews freed a humpback whale entangled in fishing gear off Vancouver Island after working for four days, with the animal later identified as Artemis. The first sighting occurred on June 11 by Navy personnel aboard the Canadian Forces auxiliary vessel Stikine in the Strait of Georgia. The Department of National Defence said its team then coordinated with Fisheries and Oceans Canada to assess and track the whale and to plan the disentanglement process. On June 14, Artemis was freed from the remaining ropes, according to the Department of National Defence. The article links the incident to broader environmental concerns, noting that Fisheries and Oceans Canada describes “ghost gear” as abandoned, lost or discarded fishing equipment that harms marine life. DFO estimates between 600,000 and 800,000 metric tonnes of ghost gear enter the oceans annually, often through snagging, entanglement, weather impacts or gear being cut incidentally by marine traffic.