Officers from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada conduct a training operation in Departure Bay on Wednesday, Oct. 27, practicing how to refloat a beached juvenile killer whale. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

FALSE ALARM

VIDEO: Fake whale provides real-world simulation on marine mammal rescue

Oct 27, 2021 | 10:44 AM

NANAIMO — It looked real for dozens of onlookers, but a beached whale in Departure Bay turned out to be little more than a routine training drill.

Local officers from Fisheries and Oceans Canada were on scene at early Wednesday, Oct. 27, conducting a rescue simulation for a juvenile killer whale.

Paul Cottrell, the DFO’s marine mammal rescue coordinator, told NanaimoNewsNOW the 14 foot dummy provides an exercise just like the real thing.

“We want to make the training as realistic as possible, so we basically have a life-size killer whale and these refloatation pontoons are designed for killer whale sized animals that live strand. It’s very realistic, the size of the animal, the weight of the animal.”

The fake whale is filled with water and requires multiple people to maneuver it on the sand. Around a dozen people took part in Wednesday’s session, with extras on shore explaining what was going on to curious onlookers.

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Officers work in the water to re-float a 14-foot, water-filled dummy of a juvenile killer whale on Departure Beach early Wednesday morning. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Officers practice a range of techniques to hone their skills ahead of real-world incidents.

“How to refloat it and take your time to allow the animal to get its equilibrium before it’s released. That’s not always possible but these folks are trained safely to make sure they have their best chance of survival.”

Cottrell said he’ll attend around four of five of these training sessions a year and Wednesday’s operation was part of a training week for DFO staff, reinforcing skills such as how to respond to oil spills, attach satellite tags as well as necropsy training.

Similar operations take place all along B.C.’s coast, to ensure people and equipment are ready to jump into action when a call comes in.

Cottrell said it’s common for killer whales to strand while hunting seals in shallow water, while white sided dolphins can also run ashore trying to escape a whale.

“These animals when they live strand, they don’t have a lot of time. So it’s having the equipment caches in these places around the coast, then having this critical mass of folks, you need 12 or 14 trained folks. We make it as real as possible and I think it’s reflected by the folks that see it.”

Officers work in the water to re-float a 14-foot, water-filled dummy of a juvenile killer whale on Departure Beach early Wednesday morning. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Around 50 people stopped through the morning training session, initially thinking it was a real beached whale, before being told by DFO staff it was a training session.

“We’ve had people running out and crying before, so we had three folks to explain what was going on. We had a kindergarten class out as well so it’s an educational piece for the community.”

The fake whale and other equipment in case of real rescue scenarios was acquired in 2018 for rescue and training operations all over coastal B.C.

The DFO has a 24-hour reporting hotline for animal emergencies along the coast, with people urged to call 1-800-465-4336 if they see an animal in distress.

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alex.rawnsley@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @alexrawnsley