[7] Lien and a group of staff would then travel to the scene, launch their zodiac, and remove all possible fishing gear from the whale.
[5] Mortality rates of humpback whales entrapped in fishing gear dropped from as high as 50% to around 7% as a result of the program.
Since 2001, they have provided help to over 800 fishing communities for all of Newfoundland's 17,000 km coast, handling all strandings of marine mammals, and do education programs about whales.
The group also tested active high and low frequency pinger alarms and mechanical sound devices which could be secured to the net.
[5][12] Lien worked with acoustical engineers at Memorial University of Newfoundland's Centre for Cold Ocean Resources Engineering to develop the Aqualert: a device which "emits an acoustic warning signal which can be detected by whales, porpoises and dolphins at ranges exceeding 1 km, alerting them to the presence of the fishing gear and allowing them to avoid becoming entrapped.