Juvenile Humpback Whale Assisted in a Disentanglement Operation

The young Humpback whale approached the NSRI rescue craft and fishing vessel IINGWANE and hung around for quite some time appearing to show appreciation for being freed.

Darren Zimmerman, NSRI Simonstown and SAWDN duty controller, said:

At 08h18, Wednesday, 18 September, SA Whale Disentanglement Network (SAWDN) volunteers and NSRI Simonstown crew were activated following reports from a local avid whale watcher reporting what appeared to be a whale entangled in fishing rope offshore of Millers Point.

While NSRI Simonstown’s SAWDN crew and additional NSRI Simonstown crew responded to the NSRI Simonstown station 10 rescue base, to prepare to launch NSRI rescue craft, 2 NSRI Simonstown SAWDN crew responded to Millers Point to get a visual and to determine the extent of the entanglement.

On arrival at Millers Point they found a juvenile Humpback whale appearing to have wraps of fishing rope around the tail and body, with the whale appearing to be anchored to the sea bed.

2 NSRI Simonstown rescue craft were launched, Donna Nicholas and Jack&Irene, accompanied by NSRI Simonstown crew and trained SAWDN crew, carrying the SAWDN specialised cutting equipment.

On arrival on the scene, in a low tide with choppy sea conditions and a 20 to 25 knot North Westerly wind and rain, the SAWDN crew initiated cutting rope from the whale using the specialised cutting equipment.

It was found that 4 wraps of fishing rope were around the tail and one wrap around the body.

There were a number of whales in the area and one larger whale, suspected to be the mom, remained in close vicinity while efforts to cut rope free from the whale continued.

Hopes were high that a cut of a rope would unravel all of the rope, but the whale, showing some signs of distress and anchored to the sea bed, made this task difficult in the rough sea conditions.

The local fishing boat Iingwane responded from Kalk Bay harbour to assist, while the fishing boat Albatross stood by at Kalk Bay harbour ready to respond to assist.

Iingwane’s crew are members of SAWDN and carry trained SAWDN members onboard.

On the fishing vessel Iingwane arriving on the scene NSRI Simonstown SAWDN crew were transferred onto the Iingwane that was used as a platform for the disentanglement operation.

The Iingwane’s fishing crew (SAWDN members) were able to sufficiently lift the fishing line that was anchored to the sea bed making it more accessible to reach the wraps of rope around the tail using the SAWDN pole and cutting knife.

3 further cuts of the fishing rope were made and all rope unravelled freeing the whale and all of the rope was recovered onto the Iingwane.

Once all of the rope was freed the whale began swimming around freely and showing confidence and strength.

The whale then approached the fishing vessel Iingwane and the 2 NSRI rescue craft and it did appear that the young whale was showing its appreciation.

The whale hung around the boats for quite some time.

The young whale then joined the larger whale and they swam off together.

We are confident that this this operation was hugely successful.

The local whale watcher is commended for raising the alarm.

The NSRI Simonstown and SAWDN crew are commended for their role.

The fishing crew and SAWDN crew onboard the fishing vessel Iingwane are commended for the role they played in this successful whale disentanglement operation.

All of the boats involved, the 2 NSRI rescue craft and the fishing vessel Iingwane, returned to base and the NSRI Simonstown rescue base was closed after preparing the rescue craft for duty at 13h41.