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CHUBUT MARINE WILDLIFE NETWORK (RFCC)
Cetacean stranding and disentanglement program
Created by the Wildlife agency of the Province, Chubut’s Coastal Wildlife Network responds to the presence of marine wildlife along the coast, and other events such as unusual mortality events, cetacean live stranding and entanglement.
Mission:
Respond to the presence of marine wildlife along Chubut's coast, preventing threats to the health of the animals and people.
Vision
Consolidate a sustainable network which, thanks to the interdisciplinary cooperation between agencies and organizations will ensure a fast response to incidents involving marine and coastal wildlife, ensuring animal welfare, preventing situations of risk to human health, contributing to scientific research and education.
WHO WE ARE
The Network includes national and provincial agencies, municipalities, research centers, NGOs, private companies and volunteers.
RFCC has cells along Chubut coast, each with a local Coordinator and a trained core team.
Every region faces different problems: oil spills are more frequent in the South of the Province and whales’ live stranding are more common in the North, while the presence of wildlife resting on crowded beaches is a common problem all along the coast
STRANDING RESPONSE
The network responds to cetacean stranding (live and dead), and to the presence of marine birds, sea lions and elephant seals some of which need rehabilitation and others need to be relocated to avoid harassment by humans and/or pets
Actions include:
a) Verify the health condition of the stranded animals and coordinate the decisions at the beach
b) Evaluate relocation in the case of pinnipeds and sea birds that are resting on public beaches and become harassed by people and dogs
c) Plan and coordinate transfer, relocation, rehabilitation and release operations
DISENTANGLEMENT
- Assess, plan, coordinate and lead the response to cetacean entanglement
- The disentanglement is performed only by qualified and trained Team members, authorized by the Wildlife Agency
For more information see our report about Southern Right whale entanglement in the section "Documents"
Watch this amazing video of our team responding to a Southern Right whale entanglement near Puerto Piramides, Peninsula Valdes
Video by: Luis Pettite
Whale entanglement response training workshop, March 2012
March 27 - 29, Chubut WIldlife agency, working in close cooperation with the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto (MREC) organized and hosted the visit of David Mattila, a technical adviser for entanglement response and ship strike reduction to the Secretariat to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) who provided seminars and practical training on this issue in the Chubut Province.
Sixty-three participants attended the first daylong seminar, conducted on land at the Ecocenter in Puerto Madryn. This seminar provided extensive background on what is currently known about the topic as well as theoretical training on the safe release of whales from entangling rope and net. The second day consisted of practical training on the water in the bay of Puerto Piramides. The participation in this training was limited to individuals selected by DFFS as those who were most likely to be involved in rescue response in Chubut. These included members of the Prefectura, DFFS and local stranding and rescue network, some of whom had had experience in several previous rescues in Chubut.
David Mattila introducing the disentanglement tools
How to approach entangled whales Captain Pinino
Practice in land Some of the tools
Practical training on the water in the bay of Puerto Pirámides