Watch: Young whale freed from seabed entanglement in Cape Town

An avid whale watcher and a dedicated team of rescuers are probably the reason a juvenile humpback whale is still alive after they helped to free the mammal who was trapped in fishing rope anchored to the seabed near Millers Point in Cape Town.

Darren Zimmerman, of the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) in Simonstown and a SA Whale Disentanglement Network (SAWDN) duty controller, said they received a report from a local whale watcher, identified on social media as Nanette Smith, about a whale that seemed to be entangled in fishing rope offshore near Millers Point.

A rescue crew was dispatched from Simonstown. They encountered the whale who had wraps of fishing rope around his tale and body, anchoring him to the seabed.

NSRI crew members and trained SAWDN crew battled choppy sea conditions, strong winds and rain as they started cutting the ropes with specialised equipment.

The young whale had four wraps of rope around his body and one around his tail.

While the rescue operation was in progress, several whales were spotted in the area with one larger whale, suspected to be the young whale’s mother, remaining close to the trapped juvenile.

Adding to the extreme weather conditions, rescue efforts were made more challenging by the young whale’s struggles to free himself.

A local fishing vessel, Iingwane, assisted in the rescue operation with SAWDN crew members using the vessel as a platform from where they attempted to free the trapped whale.

After the young whale was finally cut free, he immediately started swimming around.

Crew members reported that instead of swimming away immediately, the whale hung around the boats for some time, almost as if he was trying to show his appreciation. He eventually joined the larger whale and they swam off together.

The crew commended the whale watcher for raising the alarm.

*The South African Whale Disentanglement Network (SAWDN) was established in 2006 to manage entangled whales using specialized equipment and is comprised of trained volunteers from the:

• National Sea Rescue Institute,
• KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board,
• Centre for Sustainable Oceans at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology,
• Telkom Maritime Radio Services,
• Cape Nature,
• Mammal Research Institute,
• South African National Parks,
• South African Police Service,
• Department of Forestry and Fisheries and Environment,
• Cape Nature,
• Bayworld,
• various Boat Based Whale Watching and Shark Cage Diving Operators,
• the Rock Lobster Industry and
• the Octopus Industry
• and fully supported by the Dolphin Action and Protection Group.