Lobster diver swallowed by humpback whale off Provincetown

[mello-yellow]

OK, not actually swallowed, just held in the whale's mouth for a bit. But that is the title of the article

Man swallowed by whale off the coast of Cape Cod while lobster diving

What surprised me (aside from the obvious!) is that "commercial lobster divers" exist. I had known some people who dived for sea urchins for a living, but never heard of anyone in Massachusetts diving for lobsters professionally.

 

[mi000ke]

What surprised me (aside from the obvious!) is that "commercial lobster divers" exist. I had known some people who dived for sea urchins for a living, but never heard of anyone in Massachusetts diving for lobsters professionally.

Many years ago (1979/1980) I consulted to the Division of Marine Fisheries, Lobster Fishery Division (helping them to semi-automate the analysis of fishery catch statistics) and knew the guy that issued the commercial licenses. In 1980 - the last year for which I have catch statistics (which were issued in a paper report, though I am sure by now they must be publicly available on the web) there were 4 diver-only commercial lobster fishermen and 16 combined diver and potman. The diver-only fishers brought up 14,164 lb that year (well, they reported bringing up that much, so it was probably more), for an average of 3541 lb. each. Not enough income back then to support your family, but a pretty nice sideline if you were diving anyway. One of my work colleagues dove for his supper every evening during the summer. He did not even have his recreational license, so had to be a bit stealthy. The rec license, as I recall, had a 6 lobster limit and you were not allowed to sell your catch.

 

[AfterDark]

This sounds "fishy" to me. According to what I've read whales are very aware of their surroundings, they do have sonar after. The chances of this happening are probably a lot less than getting bit by a shark. Also why the whale would dive after the diver was in its mouth? Seems strange to me, almost opposite of what they seem to do normally which to come on the food with their mouths opened then surface to drain the water and swallow the food. Could be the diver was so disoriented he didn't know if he was going up or down. He did say the whale spit him out at the surface with sounds right because he was probably too big to swallow, baleen whales throats are rather small even though their mouths are big. I don't know what to think of this sea story.

 

[TuckerIdaho]

This is conceivable if he was right ontop of a thick pile of sandeels and the whale was just mowing through them, but it's literally a 1 in a million he got snagged on the whale's mouth.

 

[AfterDark]

I guess so

The local news reported an MD as saying he doubted the story because he would expect eardrum damage caused by the whale diving to 45FSw as the diver stated. I know as someone that has dived on a daily and/or regular basis that clearing one's ear that fast is very doable and could happen with just a jaw movement so I doubt the MD.

Sand eels are bottom critters so if that were the case the whale could not have dived 45' as it was already near the bottom, or was he disorientated. Like I posted somin' fishy

 

[chillyinCanada]