Australia.The humpback whale that was entangled in 800 kilos of fishing nets and buoys is safe

A massive rescue operation has brought the humpback whale that was trapped in nets off the coast of Australia to safety.

• The humpback whale that was trapped in over eight hundred kilos of fishing material off the coast of the Australian state of Victoria has been rescued.
• Abandoned fishing gear is among the main threats to cetaceans, as are collisions with large ships.

For a few days he struggled to swim but, finally, she is free and well.Thanks to a massive rescue operation, it was brought to safety there humpback whale which had been trapped in addition eight hundred kilos of fishing material off the coast of Gippsland, south-eastern region of Australian state of Victoria.

The rescue operation for the humpback whale trapped in the nets

A helicopter had spotted her already on Saturday 23 June, but the humpback whale he disappeared for a few days, only to then reappear near Lake Tyers. The operation necessary to recover it it was impressive.First, a specialized team attached a tracker to her, to avoid losing sight of her again.After that, he had to cut the approximately 800 kilos of tangled ropes and buoys that prevented her from swimming well, with some difficulty because the animal became very agitated.The police had to lift the material from the water with the help of a crane, to prevent it from damaging ships or wildlife.Despite the far from easy experience, an operator reports, the humpback whale appeared "in good spirits".

The risks of abandoned fishing gear for cetaceans

The whales they are very long-lived animals, they live up to fifty years.Even more than their natural predators such as some species of orcas, it is man who puts them in danger. The naval traffic it quadrupled between 1992 and 2012 and it is therefore increasingly frequent for ships to collide with large cetaceans.The guidelines adopted in some territories include limiting navigation speed to 10 knots (18.5 kilometers per hour) because, according to some studies, by doing so the probability of a fatal crash drops to 50 percent.But this, clearly, is not a guarantee.

Then there is the great threat of fishing equipment abandoned at sea.Which, according to research published by Science advances, every year globally they are approximately 2 percent of the total used by fishing vessels;and it is an inevitably partial estimate, because it does not take artisanal or artisanal fishing into consideration illegal, unreported and unregulated, whose dimensions are exorbitant.