At 10h40, Friday, 24th June, the SA Whale Disentanglement Network (SAWDN) volunteers were activated following reports of a juvenile Humpback whale entangled in fishing rope approximately 200 meters off-shore of Millers Point.
The Pisces dive boat stood by alongside the whale while awaiting the arrival of the SAWDN team.The NSRI Simonstown sea rescue craft Spirit of Surfski II was launched and they located the whale then collected additional SAWDN volunteers from the Millers Point slip way.
On arrival on the scene a 7 meter juvenile Humpback whale was found with fishing rope entangled through its mouth, around the right flipper and around its tail, anchoring the whale to the sea floor effectively trapping it under water.
The fishing vessel Albatross assisted in lifting fishing lines and fishing traps from the sea bed in an effort to assist the SAWDN team to reach lines that needed to be cut in order to free the whale from the entrapment to the sea bed and the crew of the Albatross were thanked for their assistance.
The disentanglement operation, using the specialised disentanglement equipment, included cutting through two ropes before the animal was freed from its entrapment and freed of the ropes.Mike Meyer, head of SAWDN, and from the Department of Environmental Affairs - Oceans and Coasts, said that it appears that the whale is healthy and it swam off strongly and all indications are that the animal has survived.
Picture: SAWDN/NSRI
Picture: SAWDN/NSRI
Picture: Steven McCue
Picture: Steven McCue
4 assisted out of Cove cut off by high tide
Read MoreDURBAN: 2 fishermen on fishing kayaks have been rescued after getting into difficulties. ...
We’re proud to announce that our newly rebuilt NSRI Station 21 in St Francis Bay is now officially open. To mark this milestone, we held a blessing ceremony for two new state-of-the-art rescue vessels: the Spirit of St Francis III ...
Gqeberha — The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) today officially celebrated the blessing of its latest state-of-the-art Offshore Rescue Craft (ORC), Bay Guardian, at a ceremony held at the PE Deep Sea Angling Club building, adjacent to NSRI’s Gqeberha Sea ...