Ocean eco paddleboarder's shock find at far north coastline
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An ocean advocate undertaking a charity paddleboard trip around the Scottish coast talked of her shock discovery of a dead humpback whale calf near the Lybster coast on Monday afternoon.
Cal Major is a world-record stand up paddleboard (Sup) adventurer and vet from Devon who is currently circumnavigating Scotland's coast to raise money for Seaful – a UK charity helping people reconnect to the ocean.
"It was Monday afternoon when we reached Lybster and we saw something strange on the horizon through the binoculars," said Cal.
"We just couldn't figure out what this large object was, so I paddled a mile offshore to investigate and the closer we got the more obvious it became that it was actually a dead whale."
Accompanied by her partner James Appleton who took photographs from his kayak, Cal said her first instincts told her it was a humpback whale but then she wondered if it might have been a minke whale. After sharing James' images with her ocean conservation friends it was confirmed to be the remains of a humpback whale calf – a species previously decimated by whaling and currently listed as endangered.
"It appeared to be less than a year old and there was severe entanglement with fishing gear hanging from its fluke [tail] and around a pectoral fin. It's a tragic accident that happened with live fishing gear rather than ghost gear [discarded fishing equipment lost at sea]."
Cal said the active fishing gear appeared to be from a creel or lobster pot but stressed that she did not want to "shame anybody" over the discovery. "It's a tragic consequence of fishing in inshore waters. The whale has come through, got entangled and died as a result."
Judging by the state of decomposition she believed the animal had been dead for around two weeks. Fulmars were observed pecking at the carcass and bones were visible.
"I know it's a hugely controversial issue and entanglements like this grab people's attention but activities like dredging, which we do not see, is a much more damaging fishing practice."
Cal went on to point out the Our Seas campaign to bring back a three-mile fishing limit around the Scottish coast and said that 2021 is an important year for Scottish seas with VisitScotland's Year of Coasts and Waters and the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) taking place in Glasgow.
"The whole thing really sunk in when I got back to the shore. It made me feel quite sick and I'm not overly sentimental about animal death as I work as a vet. This is the calf of a species that we don't see very much and I feel absolutely heartbroken about it. It's the worst entanglement I've ever seen."
Cal is a world record stand up paddle boarder who was the first person to Sup the entire length of the UK, from Land's End to John O'Groats, in a 2018 expedition which saw her awarded the Prime Minister’s Points of Light award on World Oceans Day. She founded Paddle Against Plastic in 2016 to bring a positive message to the plastic pollution crisis and to "inspire and empower positive change" through stand up paddleboarding adventures.
"Our ocean covers 70 per cent of our planet. Ocean plankton produces the oxygen in every second breath we breathe. A thriving, biodiverse ocean is absolutely vital for our health, and the health of our planet. Not only this, but the ocean plays a huge role in our race against climate change."
Scotland has more coastline than the rest of the UK together and Cal says it is a vital place to explore the human connection to the ocean and there has never been a more pressing time to do so. As she travels the coast, she engages with communities and local people to find out more about how they connect with the sea.
Cal's journey can be followed via an online tracker at pddl.live/expedition/cal2021 and her JustGiving fundraiser page is at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/calmajor-seaful
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