As we prepare for our upcoming month-long shoot in Hawaii, our 70mm IMAX film, Whales, is now at the midpoint in its production. In July of 1995, our crew traveled to Newfoundland on short notice to document the freeing of a net-entangled humpback whale by whale researcher Dr. Jon Lien. Dr. Lien is part of the Whale Research Group at the University of Newfoundland and has helped free hundreds of humpbacks over the last decade.
Fishing nets are a serious problem for whales. The whales seem to get entangled in them either because they don't see the fine-mesh nets or they are drawn into them while feeding. Powerful as they are, whales are helpless when entrapped in these nets and would likely perish without the assistance of people like Dr. Lien. The whale we filmed was successfully released.
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