Why we should not be trying to save the whale

As attempts were made to drive "Marvin" the minke whale from Fraserburgh harbour, worried researchers said the mammal was a "master of its environment" and should be allowed to find its own way out.

They said the operation could stress the animal, which onlookers said appeared to be well fed, causing it to panic and injure itself.

Hundreds of people turned out at the docks yesterday to watch the various rescue attempts unfold. Thousands more watched on television.

But that outbreak of public concern contrasts sharply with the level of attention given to what researchers believe could be a real threat to the species - falling fish stocks off the west coast.

Largely unnoticed, the number of minke whales off Mull has fallen dramatically. Those that are left are changing their behaviour as they are forced to spend more time hunting.

But it was Marvin's plight that was attracting all the attention. The whale equivalent of a teenager, it was first spotted at about 6pm on Wednesday after apparently having followed a boat into the harbour with its mother. The adult whale then left, leaving it behind.

The first rescue attempt began shortly after midday yesterday, when a boat was used to try to entice the animal out of the harbour entrance on the high tide. But it turned back.

Last night, preparations were being made for a second attempt, this time by banging metal pipes in the water at low tide to drive it in the direction of the open sea.

However, Professor Ian Boyd, director of the Sea Mammal Research Unit at St Andrews University, said the mammal should be left alone for several days, warning that "the flap in Fraserburgh" might be counter- productive.

He said: "I think there is a real tendency to over-react to these sorts of things. The whale in the Thames was a classic case.

"It's very hard to say whether we could kill these things with kindness, but it's always a possibility we could do that and create more of a problem, with the very best of intentions."

Richard Fairbairns, the founder of the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust (HWDT), who has studied minke whales off Mull for about 25 years, said: "[People should] just back right off - leave it alone."

He went on: "Humans can actually cause more problems than help by stressing it, by causing it to do things that are unintentional."

He said following boats was very typical behaviour for minkes. "In fact, one followed me into Tobermory harbour the other day. They are very inquisitive animals; they are lovely," he said.

"It's a superb animal. They are masters of their environment. They wouldn't go anywhere they didn't want to go."

I don't know of a minke stranding - they just don't do that sort of thing. It makes me laugh, we humans try to protect everything and see dangers for them."

While there was huge concern over one minke whale in Fraserburgh, there has been little sign of public interest in the species' plight off Mull, where numbers have fallen sharply amid what appears to be a lack of food.

Mr Fairbairns, who takes tourists out to see wildlife in the seas near Mull, said the sightings rate in 2003 was 0.54, equivalent to about one every two hours, but by last year this had dropped to 0.08, one every 12 hours.

And those that are seen no longer show the same amount of interest in boats as they did in the past.

"If we sight a whale, we stop and give the whale the opportunity to come to us. We never go to a whale," Mr Fairbairns said.

"They are curious animals naturally. They would put their heads out the water and look at the boat or just lazily swim round us. They would be there for certainly up to an hour.

"That was lovely - then it suddenly stopped. That no longer happens. The whales appear to be continually hunting and have no time for anything else.

"They are continually foraging rather than just casually feeding, getting full and bumbling over to us.

"Occasionally, one will come and associate with a boat, but it's very unusual."

A lack of small fish may also be the reason for a marked increase in the numbers of basking sharks off Mull - they may be moving in to take advantage of a glut of plankton no longer being eaten by the fish.

The HWDT is investigating reports of minke whales off Skye and in the North Sea, which may suggest the Mull population has moved to look for food.

Dr Becky Boyd, marine policy officer for the Scottish Wildlife Trust, said the minke whales' problems off Mull were an indication of wider issues for sea life.

"We are looking at creatures high up in the food chain and it is an important shot across the bows," she said.

"When you do look at the top of the food chain and there is damage happening there, we know below that - even if we cannot see it - there are problems. It's quite frightening."

Mark Simmonds, science director of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society and chairman of the Marine Mammal Rescue Coalition, which was involved in the Fraserburgh rescue operation, said attempts to save the whale were justified.

"The whale seems to have taken a wrong turning and got into a potentially dangerous situation," he said.

"It's breathing at the kind of rate you would expect if it was feeding, which it is not. The high breathing rate probably means it is stressed to bits, which is another good reason to get it out of there.

"An animal in a prominent place like this can attract foolish behaviour and a man jumped into the water to mess about with the whale.

"Fraserburgh is a busy fishing port with quite large boats and little manoeuvrability and large, fast-moving propellers. The whale was in a corner near a couple of boats, one of which was reversing."

LATE RESCUE BID FAILS

ATTEMPTS to rescue Marvin the whale were scaled down last night when he became distressed.

Rescuers aboard a flotilla of small boats banged steel pipes to generate underwater sound waves and direct him to safety.

Hundreds lined the quayside at Fraserburgh as experts struggled to guide him back to sea, where his mother had been spotted circling the harbour mouth.

At one point Marvin swam tantalisingly close to the open waters, but, visibly stressed and confused by the noise, he turned back.

As a second attempt later in the evening failed, a final desperate bid saw a boat trailing fish try and entice him out of the port.

As the light faded, stubborn Marvin was left to spend another night in the harbour.

Fresh attempts to release him will be launched today.

MINKE WHALE STATISTICS

THE Minke whale gets it name from an 18th-century Norwegian whaler, infamous for regularly breaking the rules concerning the sizes (and therefore species) of whales that he was permitted to hunt.

Soon all the small whales became known as "Minke's whales" Eventually, it was formally adopted as the name for this small species.

• There are two types of Minke: the Common or Northern Minke and the Antarctic or Southern Minke. They are part of the rorqual family.

• An average adult male Minke measures 22ft 8in in length, while females are 24ft 5in. Both sexes typically weigh four to five tonnes at maturity but can reach a maximum weight of 14 tonnes.

• They can reach speeds of up to 12 to 18 mph.

• Minke whales typically live for 30 to 50 years; in some cases they may live for up to 60 years.

• The total population of Minkes is estimated at around 1,284,000.

• Minke whales are generally solitary.

• They feed on whatever food source is most abundant in the area, which in the Hebrides is small fish like herring.