The nearly 18 m long marine mammal had been trapped in 800 kg of fishing tackle for several days.
A difficult rescue that, fortunately, had a happy ending. On Saturday June 29, an 18 m humpback whale entangled in almost 800 kg of fishing gear was rescued off the coast of Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, reports The Guardian. Local authorities used a crane to extract the ropes and buoys from the water.
The humpback whale was spotted in trouble on June 23 by a helicopter in the south-east of the country, before disappearing from radar. It only reappeared five days later in the same area, leaving a window of opportunity for the authorities to place a tracer on it and intervene.
The whale was « moving a lot ».
« The whale was so entangled in the ropes that it didn’t travel very far, » explains police inspector James Dalton in a statement. We had to come back the next day to make sure we could remove enough rope so she could swim freely again. » It was « a huge team effort and we’re proud of the result, » he adds.
The trapped animal was « moving around a lot », operations manager Ellen Dwyer told the Guardian, making the operation difficult. She was in good spirits, however. The whale swam free after the rescue.
The fishing gear may have come from an international vessel, according to the local authorities’ investigation, reports ABC News. The nets regularly snare marine animals at random. Queensland shark nets, for example, caught 7,808 non-target animals, including 734 protected species between 2013 and 2014, claims Sea Shepherd.
Last Monday, a whale caught in an anti-shark net on the beach at Marcoola, Queensland, was rescued by bystanders, despite the fact that it is illegal to come within 20 m of anti-shark nets in this Australian state.
Source: Le Parisien
