Cetaceans strandings in Costa Rica 2008

Playa Hermosa, 11 may, 2008

Specie: Unknown
Cause of death: Entanglement in gillnet

It was confirmed yesterday that a whale had succumbed to a gill net off the North West coast of Guanacaste, Costa Rica.  Upon hearing about a drifting dead whale entangled in fishing net, the Dive Shop of Ocotal Beach Resort volunteered to send a dive boat with volunteer divers to investigate.  When the divers arrived, they found a large fragment of decomposing whale wrapped tightly in a large gill net, which was itself tangled in the reef 25 feet below the surface. Volunteer divers Tanya Buxton (Ocotal Beach Resort), Julian Rueda (Ocotal Beach Resort), Eddie Mora (Summer Salt Dive Shop), Susan Cossi (Proyecto de Luz), Javier Cancianni (Almaco Charters) and Carlos Hiller (Underwater artist), as well as captains Alan Garcia and Harry Garcia (Ocotal Beach Resort), worked as a team to remove the net from the reef and whale carcass. The entire large net was completely removed from the water to prevent future damage to marine species. The whale seems to have died weeks ago from being entangled in the fishing gear. Part of the whale washed ashore to Playa Hermosa and on Saturday May 10th, Diving Safaris of Playa Hermosa discovered the part of the whale that was entangled in the reef at Punta Ballena (located just north of Playa Hermosa). Diving Safaris then contacted biologist Tanya Buxton of Ocotal Beach Resort who organized the team of volunteers to safely remove the net from the reef.

Photo credits: Tanya Buxton