The National Sea Rescue Institute and SA Whale Disentanglement Network (SAWDN) commended the local coast watcher community and the whale watching boats for their vigilance and assistance with rescue efforts to free a whale that had become entangled in fishing line off the Hermanus coastline.
James Janse van Rensburg, the NSRI Hermanus deputy station commander, reported that SAWDN was alerted on Friday 28 June to a whale appearing to be in distress as result of being entangled in what appeared to be fishing line, off-shore in Walker Bay. The local whale charter vessel Miroscha informed SAWDN that they were monitoring the animal from a safe distance and maintaining the coordinates of the whale’s location.
The whale, said Janse van Rensburg, was entangled in what appeared to be fishing line around the tail.
The NSRI Hermanus rescue craft, Rescue 17 Alpha Leonard Smith, along with trained SAWDN NSRI crew, carrying the SAWDN specialised cutting equipment, set off to the location where they thanked the skipper and crew of the Miroscha who then continued on their voyage.
“We found the juvenile Southern Right whale, 8 to 9 metres in length, with a large amount of tuna monofilament long line entangled around it’s tail, flukes and caudal peduncle,” Janse van Rensburg said. “It was evident the line had embedded itself in the flesh and cutting free of the line was urgent.”
The crew cautiously approached the whale and managed to free the whale of the majority of the line, using the specialised cutting equipment.
“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.
“It is unclear, at present, if the tuna monofilament long line is local or foreign. This will be investigated in cooperation with the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment.”
After being freed of the majority of the fishing line, the whale dived beneath the surface and was not seen again, despite the crew searching the area hoping the whale would resurface.
Later that day, after being informed by the local whale charter vessel Umnati about the whale’s whereabouts, the NSRI and SAWDN crew once again set off to find the whale.
“We found the whale moving along more freely but still with tuna monofilament long line coiled around the tail, the flukes and the caudal peduncle and some of the line still embedded.
“We again set to work, cautiously cutting free the long line. We estimate we had cut free at least 90% of the remaining line,” Janse van Rensburg reported.
All of the line that was cut free, on both occasions, was recovered for disposal. The whale was spotted again on two different occasions, firstly off-shore of Sandbaai and then two days later moving towards Gansbaai.
Rough sea conditions, however, hampered efforts to remove the last of the remaining line from the whale.
Mike Meyer of SAWDN said: “The line left behind, however, does appear to be loose and the whale is moving freely. 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.”
NSRI and SAWDN commend the local coast watcher community and the whale watching boats for their vigilance and for their assistance.
The South African Whale Disentanglement Network (SAWDN) was established in 2006 to manage entangled whales using specialised equipment.
It is comprised of trained volunteers from various departments and organisations including the NSRI, Telkom Maritime Radio Services, Cape Nature, the Mammal Research Institute, Department of Environment Forestry and Fisheries, Bayworld and various boat-based whale watching and shark cage diving operators. SAWDN operates along the SA coastline.
