Rescue Crew Fail First Attempt At Saving Humpback Whale From Shark Nets

At around 7am on August 10, Beachgoers at Snapper Rocks noticed a young humpback whale entangled in Shark nets.

Sea World and Department of Fisheries crews were working for hours trying to free the 8 meter male whale.

Whale Entangled In Shark Nets:

Once it started to get dark, the rescue crews had to call off the operation.

They managed to remove the netting from mammals’ pectoral fins and body, but still weren’t finished.

A satellite tracking device allowed the crew to locate the whale around 30 nautical miles off the Tweed Coast.

Sea World Head of Marine Science Wayne Phillips said the net is still tightly wrapped around the whale’s tail.

“We will take out both sea world 1 and sea world 2, and we will join the shark patrol program contractor with his boat and the Mart team, and continue to try and release the rest of the equipment from the whale”, Phillip said.

With ideal weather, the team is hopeful they will be able to find the whale and set him free.

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