'We're holding our breath': Scientists monitoring St. Lawrence beluga via satellite

A beluga whale trapped after swimming intothe Nepisiguit River in New Brunswick was flown to Quebec on Thursday and released among a pod of female and juvenile belugas.

It was an elaborate and lengthy rescue operation that involved an inflatable mattress, a truck and an airplane.

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TheGroup for Research and Education on Marine MammalsinTadoussac, Que., orchestrated the operation.RobertMichaud, a marinebiologistandscientificdirector of the research group, spoke Friday with CBC Montreal's Daybreak.

The interview was edited for length and clarity.

How did the whale get stranded in the New Brunswick river?

Every spring and every summer we find lost, solitary belugas either in the Gulf [of St. Lawrence]or in the Maritimes.

We think that in the winter some animals get separated from their herds. Usually these situations have a tragic end because most of the animals tend to develop a socio-pathology. They are very social animals and when they are alone, they tend to be attracted to boats or fishing harbours and it's not a nice place to be for those whales.

But we don't know exactly what the mechanism is by which these animals get separated. This one decided to go up a river and he got trapped there. Others develop friendships with boats, which is not a good idea.

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Where is he now?

We left it yesterday in front of Cacouna [200 kilometres northeast of Quebec City] after a very long and delicate and complex operation.

There was a boat that had been standing look-out for a group of whales that couldreceivethis little male. TheParks Canada boat [found] a group of females and young around 3 p.m.Wemet up with the boat around 4 p.m. and released the maleamong the group of whales there.

On the second surface sequence that he made,he was with a group of three other juvenile whales.

Even though we lost visual contact, we are still in satellitecontact with the whale.We equipped this little whale with a satellitetransmitter and hopefully we'll be able to follow his adventures in the St. Lawrence.

How distressed was the whalewhen he was found?

We're a bit concerned.... He was not in a good position. It's not a place for a beluga:to be in fresh water, isolated from the others.

We think he's been there for at least two weeks, possibly even longer. So the first thing that was done when the animal was captured was to take blood samples.

The first analysis of these blood samples was a bit concerning. The animal was a bit unbalanced, his electrolyteswere quite low. It looked like the animal had not been feeding for a long period and it also hadbeen drinking a lot of fresh water, which is not a good idea [for a whale].

Though the operation went on for a few hours,the animal stayed in pretty stable condition during transport and until we moved it back in the water in a floating stretcher.

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We then had to move around offshore for an hour to find the other whales. It's difficult to say if the animal will make it. The next hours and the next days will be critical.

But the operation itself was an amazing success. A large number of organizations joined in. Hopefully we will be able to help this individual, but we also learned a lot about how we can help this population.

The [beluga whale]population is declining, it's severely endangered. Now, can this type of rescue make a difference? We're holding our breath.

How important was it to find those other whales?

We asked our colleagues from Parks Canada to hang around all day in the area looking for what could be the ideal group for an adoption. And they did find a very extended group of females and young.

These animals arehighly sociable. They live in groups and forge relationships with each other.

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After all the challengescapturing the animal, transporting the animal, getting it back in its habitat the next is getting the animal accepted by others. That is why we made a fuss about finding another group of whales.

He swam for at least for one sequence with three others. The animals were vocal;there were several exchanges of calls. We don't know what all these calls mean, but it was an important part of the operation.

What's next?

We'll find out if the animal survived. We have the ability to track its movements.

But it's going to be a challenge because the location we obtain from the satellite is not in real time, and they are not super precise.

Still, we have team that works daily on the water with the whales, so we have a good chance of seeing it and knowing whether it survives.

We will be very curious to find out how he makes out.