Shark Fear For Snared Whale
The Age
Thursday July 10, 2003
An exhausted humpback whale was vulnerable to shark attack last night after struggling all day to free itself from crayfish pot ropes off Victoria's south-west coast.
The adult humpback - about 14 metres long - seems to be tethered to the sea floor, with rope and buoys wrapped around its body and its right pectoral flipper. It can breathe but has exhausted itself trying to get free.
A large crowd gathered yesterday at Armstrong's Bay, between Port Fairy and Warrnambool, to watch the whale's struggle for survival 300 metres offshore.
Fading light and the whale's agitated state forced veterinary and whale experts to stop their rescue efforts last night and there was little they could do to prevent a shark attack.
Department of Sustainability and Environment flora and fauna management officer Mandy Watson said: ``That is always an issue that we need to be aware of when an animal is tangled up that long. It is possibly attracting predators already."
If the whale survived the night, workers were confident they could make good progress towards freeing it at daybreak today.
A few ropes were cut yesterday but the whale often dived when approached by a rescuer with a knife attached to the end of a pole.
Ms Watson said the distressed whale would be approached by boats only. Having divers in the water was too dangerous. A New Zealand diver died recently when hit by a humpback's tail when trying to save the whale from ropes.
A recent study by marine scientists estimated that 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises died around the world each year from entanglements and as fishing ``bycatch". This is Victoria's first recorded entanglement but experts had been expecting it.
The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society's science officer, Sarah Dolman, said the issue of entanglements needed to be reviewed and tackled at a national level.
© 2003 The Age
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