Sea World whale rescuers spent six hours searching for humpback tangled in fishing equipment
Whale rescuers spent six hours searching for a humpback off the Gold Coast after a fisherman reported it was swimming with tangled fishing gear around its body. SEE THE VIDEO
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Whale rescuers spent six hours searching for a humpback entangled in fishing equipment off the Gold Coast before a delicate operation to free the mammal.
A commercial fisherman witnessed the whale swim off while heavily entangled in spanner crab pots off Cape Moreton about 5pm on Tuesday.
They reported it to the Sea World Foundation and Queensland Parks and Wildlife but, due to the lack of daylight, they were unable to head out on the water to find the whale.
Sea World Foundation head of marine sciences Wayne Phillips said the crew left at first light on Wednesday to maximise their search efforts.
But after six hours searching waters from the Gold Coast to Moreton Island, they had yet to find the animal until they luckily stumbled upon the young humpback on their way back to shore about 12.30pm.
Mr Phillips said the animal was in “pretty poor condition”.
“We were worried it may not even be alive,” he said.
“(There were) four tight rope wraps around its head and mouth and without intervention there was no way it would have survived.
“(The fisherman) reported about 20 dilly pots were attached to the animal.
“It was critical we removed the entanglement.”
It took the team about 15 minutes to free the whale using specialised cutting equipment.
“To get the animal released so quickly and to see it swim off so strongly just made everybody’s day,” Mr Phillips said.
Sea World Foundation marine mammal specialist Ben Markham said the search effort was like a “needle in a haystack” but the team were “elated” to find and free the whale.
“It was like a totally different animal once it was free,” he said.
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Originally published as Sea World whale rescuers spent six hours searching for humpback tangled in fishing equipment
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