Expert: Disentangling Whales Perilous; 'Interpreting What A Whale Does Is Difficult'

Whales may be intelligent, but they're not human - so don't expect them to behave in a human-like way when they're entangled in ropes, lobster pots or buoys, says a visiting expert. Whale entanglement authority Bob Bowman, who works for the non-profit Provincetown Centre for Coastal Studies in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, was speaking at a two-day workshop in the city last week. Participants focused on safe and efficient disentanglement of whales and the scientific monitoring of the problem in South African waters.