Rescuers searching for entangled humpback whale

Friday, 7 September 2018

The whale was entangled in fishing rope.

A rescue team hoping to free an entangled humpback whale in Northland could not locate the animal on Friday.

The whale became entangled in ropes, believed to be craypot lines, in the Bay of Islands on Thursday.

The Department of Conservation (DOC) said the humpback whale was trapped at Kingfish Reef.

DOC's northern communication adviser Abi Monteith said the team were unable to free the whale on Thursday.

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'We found that the whale was not able to move freely but was still breathing,' Monteith said.

The team was again deployed on Friday at 8am but was unable to locate the whale. It plans to resume its search on Saturday.

The whale disentanglement teams are usually called up to three times a year to respond to entangled whales.

Monteith said the procedure to free a trapped whale was known as 'kegging'.

'It involves using grapnel hooks to attach rope and floats to material entangling the whale to slow it down and tire it out,' she said.

'Once the whale is sufficiently exhausted, the disentanglement team edge along the rope until they are close enough to reach over with a long pole and a range of various knife blades to cut away the material entangling the whale.'

Untangling a humpback whale can be a risky task as the giants can weigh up to 50 tonnes, and are often not happy with being interfered with.

Monteith said DOC had received offers of help, however at this stage they had resources on the water already and any further resources could hamper the rescue effort.

'The team needs to focus their attention on the whale and minimise any further disturbance to the whale, and would appreciate vessels staying well clear of the area.'

A Project Jonah spokesman said this was a highly specialised situation that happened a couple of times a year in New Zealand.

'The species does tend to get entangled because they are are quite inquisitive,' the spokesman said.

'The risk of whales becoming entangled in craypot lines can be reduced by people setting craypots minimising slack craypot line, allowing only enough for tidal action,' Monteith said.

'Avoiding setting pots in offshore deeper water during June and July would also significantly reduce the risk.'