A whale entangled in a fishing line was rescued off-shore in Hermanus on Friday.
The SA Whale Disentanglement Network (SAWDN) was alerted to a whale appearing to be in distress off-shore in the Walker Bay area on 28 June.
A local whale charter vessel, the Miroscha, was monitoring the whale from a safe distance.
Also read: Watch: Wikie the orca speaks ‘human’ in eerie recordings
According to the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), the whale was entangled in what appeared to be a fishing line around its tail.
The NSRI Hermanus rescue craft, Rescue 17 Alpha Leonard Smith, was deployed at 9:37am, accompanied by a trained SAWDN NSRI crew, carrying the SAWDN specialised cutting equipment.
Unleash your inner explorer with these incredible car deals, all priced under R100 000. Find car listings here.
On scene, they found a juvenile Southern Right whale about eight to nine metres in length. A large amount of tuna monofilament long line was entangled around its tail, flukes and peduncle, and it appeared that the line had embedded into its flesh.
Watch:
It is unclear whether the fishing line is local or foreign and this will be investigated in cooperation with the environmental department.
To cut the line, the NSRI crew cautiously approached the whale. ‘The line had embedded into the whale, indicating it has most likely had the entanglement for quite some time, but because of the complexity of cutting the line free, unfortunately, there was considerable damage sustained to our SAWDN specialised cutting equipment,’ the NSRI said in a statement.
‘However, once the whale appeared to have greater manoeuvrability, having been freed of a large section of the tuna monofilament long line, the whale dived beneath the surface and was not seen again, despite our searching the area hoping that the whale resurfaced.’
The whale did return later in the day, as reported by local whale charter vessel Umnati.
The NSRI rescue craft Rescue 17 Alpha Leonard Smith responded again and observed that the whale was moving freely, although the tuna monofilament long line was coiled around its tail, flukes and caudal peduncle – with some still embedded.
Using the SAWDN specialised cutting equipment, the NSRI crew cautiously began cutting the long line free again. ‘We estimate we cut free at least 90% of the remaining line,’ the NSRI said.
‘It appeared that the, more or less 10%, of the line left behind had loosened considerably, but again the whale dived underwater and was not seen again on Friday.’
The line cut on both occasions was recovered for proper disposal.
NSRI Hermanus, the local NSRI coast watcher and whale coast watcher group, kept a lookout for the whale over the weekend.
It is suspected that the same whale was spotted off-shore of Sandbaai on Sunday, 30 June. The local coast watcher group reported that it appeared to be moving freely but that it appeared to have some line still entangled around the tail.
On Tuesday 2 July, coast watchers spotted what appeared to be the same whale off-shore of Walker Bay, moving in the direction of Gansbaai.
Again, the 17 Alpha Leonard Smith was launched.
‘We caught up with the whale off-shore of Danger Point and confirmed this to be the same whale. However sea conditions, with heavy sea swells, were not conducive to attempting to get the last bit of line cut free off the whale,’ the organisation stated.
Although a SAWDN craft was also launched to join NSRI on the scene, all resources had to stand down due to unfavourable sea conditions.
‘The line left behind however does appear to be loose and the whale is moving freely,’ said Mike Meyer of SAWDN. ‘We are continuing to monitor to see if the opportunity arises to get the last bit of line off the whale.’
‘If the same whale gets spotted a determination will be made if any further assistance is required,’ he added.
Cape {town} Etc discount: Looking for things to do in the city at half the price? Get exclusive offers here.
Also read:
Picture: National Sea Rescue Institute