Coordinated response by whale watchers and entanglement response teams saves injured humpback whale from likely fatal outcome
Salish Sea, [July 26, 2025] –
On Friday, a humpback whale named Starry Knight was seen actively breaching just days after it was successfully freed from a life-threatening entanglement. The whale was seen swimming near Galiano Island, BC, by whale watchers of the Pacific Whale Watch Association, appearing to be enjoying its new freedom and recovering from its recent ordeal. On July 16th, a team of authorized responders from The Whale Museum and Cascadia Research Collective removed more than 200 feet of entangling line from the whale.
Matt Stolmeier, of Outer Island Excursions, was the first captain to identify Starry Knight since its disentanglement, he also happened to be one of the captains who stood-by this whale on July 15th that enabled the response teams to free the whale. “It was quite a thrill and somewhat serendipitous that I was able to have this encounter.” Stolmeier added, “Couldn’t be happier to be a part of the equation to help this young humpback. Also, couldn’t have had the initial sighting to keep track for the entanglement team, or confirm the identity in the latest encounter, without the stellar crew members I work with daily.”
“The re-sighting on Friday enabled the community to figure out who the whale was by obtaining good dorsal fin and fluke images to confirm it was the recently disentangled whale, as well as match it to a previously known whale. Now we’ll be able to note this tragic event in Starry Knight’s life, follow its recovery, and hopefully see it return to the Salish Sea for years to come,” stated Erin Gless, Executive Director of the Pacific Whale Watch Association. Thanks to the collaborative efforts of local, regional, and ocean basin-wide humpback whale population catalogs, you can visit HappyWhale.com to see Starry Knights (CRC- 22662) past sightings. You can also check out its mom’s, Fallen Knight (CRC-15436 /BCX0915), long sighting history over the past 20 years, as well as the sightings of its half-siblings, Portrait and Shearwater, aka Camelot.
Image credit: Matt Stolmeier of Outer Island Excursions
Starry Knight’s first year of independence from its mom has been a tough one, becoming entangled in fishing gear before it has even reached its 2nd birthday. However, it was one of the lucky whales that was seen and reported to the entanglement response networks that respond in the Salish Sea. While DFO responds to reports north of the border in Canada, members of the Pacific Northwest Entanglement Response Network respond to reports in US waters. The Network includes several organizations that pool their resources (staff, boats, tools, equipment, etc.) in order to respond to entangled whales in Washington and Oregon. In Washington, this includes The Whale Museum, SeaDoc Society, SR3, WDFW, and Cascadia Research Collective. This network is authorized and overseen by NOAA Fisheries. The coordinated efforts for this whale, spanning two countries and multiple organizations, saved Starry Knight from a likely fatal outcome.
The Response
Starry Knight was first reported entangled on July 14th near Sooke, BC. Thanks to communication among Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA) members, whale watches around the region were on high alert to keep an eye out for the whale. On July 15th, an Outer Island Excursions vessel sighted the whale in Rosario Strait, over 40 miles from the original report. Their team reported the whale and stayed with it, even dispatching Stolmeier on a second vessel without passengers to maintain visual contact until responders from The Whale Museum in Friday Harbor arrived.
Responders from The Whale Museum documented and assessed the entanglement. After consulting with Cascadia’s advanced response team and NOAA Fisheries, they attached a tracking buoy to facilitate a full disentanglement effort – planned for July 16th.
“Our recent training with Cascadia gave us the confidence and skills to safely attach telemetry equipment to the entangling gear,” said Erin Casellas, Field Operations Coordinator at The Whale Museum. “It was a critical step in ensuring we could track the whale until a full response was possible.”
Before dawn on July 16th, the Starry Knight began moving west toward Port Angeles. Cascadia’s team trailered their vessel from Olympia, launching in Port Townsend, and began tracking signals from the tag, while The Whale Museum team transited from Friday Harbor to Orcas Island to pick up an inflatable boat from SeaDoc Society, an essential platform for close-in work around large whales.
Images Collected in Partnership with The Whale Museum and Cascadia Research Collective, NOAA Permit #24359
Cascadia’s team relocated the whale off Dungeness Spit, and once the TMW team arrived, the small inflatable was deployed to start working on the entanglement. Approximately 80 feet of line was trailing from the whale, and multiple lines cut deep into its tail. Though the whale was not using its tail to swim, it propelled itself with its powerful front flippers, appearing to “fly” through the water as it travelled west down the Strait of Juan De Fuca. Responders attached large buoys to the trailing line to slow the whale and keep it at the surface. Underwater video taken of the whale (using a long pole with a GoPro attached at the end) showed the details of the entanglement configuration, enabling the team to determine the cuts required to free the whale.
The team needed to cut three lines tightly wrapping the whale: the lines wrapping each side of the fluke (left and right fluke blades) and the line wrapping around the tail stock. Using specialized knives mounted on long poles, responders carefully cut the entangling lines without injuring the whale. Drone footage documented the operation and confirmed the whale’s condition after release.
Image Collected in Partnership with The Whale Museum and Cascadia Research Collective, NOAA Permit #24359
“As soon as the final line was cut, the whale began slowly swimming away,” said Doug Sandilands, a lead responder at Cascadia. “The injuries were significant, so we are glad to see that the whale watching community found Starry Knight a few days later behaving normally, even breaching. We’re hoping the whale will stay in the region long enough for the research and whale watching community to document the full recovery process.”
Jenn Tackaberry, also a lead responder with Cascadia, emphasized the importance of collaboration: “This case highlights the strength of cross-border partnerships and how important members of the PWWA are in the response network. Whale watching crews are the eyes on the water, and their willingness to stay with entangled whales until a response team arrives is often the difference between life and death. Without them, this whale would likely have suffered the same fate as the tailless whales seen last year in these same waters.”
The Pacific Northwest Entanglement Response Network is part of a national and global effort to reduce large whale entanglements through safe rescue operations, data collection, and prevention strategies. All response activities (including documentation, approaching the whale, attaching a telemetry tag, and removing gear) were conducted by trained and authorized responders under NOAA permit #24359, following international and national safety standards that prohibit entering the water and prioritize the safety of both the whale and the crew.
A grant from the San Juan Island Community Foundation covered the fuel and vessel costs incurred by The Whale Museum during the response, and Spyderco donated essential disentanglement cutting tools. However, ongoing funding is uncertain, and many of the response organizations are struggling to find ways to fund this work to ensure other entangled whales have the same opportunity to be saved. Please consider making a donation to The Whale Museum and Cascadia Research Collective to help support this work.