Sea World Foundation completes two-day rescue to save entangled humpback whale off Northern NSW

June 23, 2024

The Sea World Foundation rescue team has advised of the completion of a gruelling two-day rescue operation to save a humpback whale which was heavily entangled in thick rope and towing buoys off the coast of Northern NSW.

The entangled humpback whale was first sighted on 13th June off Burrewarra Point, near Batemans Bay on the NSW South Coast with Sea World, NSW Parks and Wildlife and ORRCA (the Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia) awaiting further sightings to attempt the rescue operation.

With a sighting reported off Sandon Beach mid-morning on Thursday 20th June, the Sea World Foundation rescue team loaded up their rescue vessel and drove two-and-half hours to search for the whale off the coast at Yamba, where the whale was predicted to be based on swim speed calculations. With only an hour of daylight left on the water, the team began their search and found the entangled whale 5 miles east of Angourie, off the coast of Yamba. With limited light, the team deployed a satellite tag to allow them to track the whale allowing for the disentanglement efforts to continue the following day.

On Friday 21st June, the team headed back down to Evans Head, the location of the last satellite tag reading which was confirmed by a visual sighting from a member of the public, to commence the search and located the whale 2 nautixal miles off the coast of Evans Head. It was a challenging rescue operation spanning over three hours, but the team managed to remove all the rope and buoys from the whale before monitoring it post release as it continued on its northern migration with a companion animal.

Advising that this was one of the more complicated rescue operations with the rope entangled tight around the whale and pinning its pectoral fins to its body and restricting its tail movements.

Sea World Skipper, Andy Mulville explained “the team did an amazing job working together to loosen the rope using our specialised cutting knives before we grappled onto the rope of the buoys and used the force of our boat to pull these off and free the whale.

“As soon as that last bit of gear come off the whale it took off swimming freely at 6 knots and it was incredible to see that reaction, and know our work out on the water saved it from a perilous death.”

Images and videos courtesy of the Sea World Foundation and ORRCA.

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