Heartbreaking News As Whale Becomes Entangled With Buoy Off Campobello Island

Unfortunately, a fin whale has lost its battle with a navigational buoy somewhere in the Bay of Fundy off the coast of Campobello Island.

The heartbreaking news came via the Canadian Whale Institute and was posted on the Eastport Windjammers Facebook page.

The fin whale approximately 60 feet in length was reported by those on the Grand Manan Ferry on Friday, September 1, at 8:30 in the morning. Somehow the whale had become entangled in the anchor lines of the large red plastic navigational buoy, which had become jammed up against its lefthand jaw as the whale was struggling to get to the surface to breathe, according to the Campobello Whale Rescue Team that responded.

After a period of hours monitoring the area, the sightings ceased and the whale was nowhere to be found. The rescue party that had grown to four boats came to the conclusion that between the drag and the weight of the buoy, the whale had lost its battle and had sunk to the bottom.

Heartbreaking to say the least.

Like Bar Harbor, whale sightseeing excursions in Eastport are big business, with thousands of tourists taking the tour of Passamaquoddy Bay and the Bay of Fundy yearly. Like the North Atlantic Right Whale, fin whales will become entangled in fishing lines as well, but apparently, this is the first time that those with whale experience have come across one entangled with a buoy and its anchor line.  The Canadian Whale Institute rescuers estimated that the buoy's anchor may have weighed up to 2,500 lbs.