A WHALE has been rescued near Oyster Bay in the Eastern Cape after it was entangled|in rope.
South African Whale Disentanglement Network (SAWDN) spokesman Craig Lambinon said that the incident happened on Tuesday afternoon.
Oyster Bay is located between Humansdorp and St Francis Bay on the east coast.
“At 4.40pm on Tuesday, the network was activated to approximately one nautical mile offshore of Oyster Bay on reports from Nick Bournman, from the Oyster Bay Beach Lodge, of a whale appearing to be entangled in rope and buoys,” said Lambinon.
“The NSRI St Francis Bay sea rescue craft Spirit of St Francis II responded, carrying trained volunteer members of the network.
“On arrival on the scene at 5.15pm, two humpback whales were located swimming together, possibly a mother and child, and the smaller of the two whales was the one entangled in rope and three floatation buoys, with the rope entangled around the peduncle.”
Lambinon explained that an extensive operation then took place to release the whale using specialised disentanglement equipment.
“In an operation, lasting just under 30 minutes, all rope |and floatation buoys were successfully removed from |the whale and recovered,” |he said.
“The whale appears to not be injured from the ordeal and appeared to be swimming confidently following the disentanglement, and SAWDN is confident that the operation has been successful.”
Cape Times