Humpback whale rescued from ghost fishing gear in Plettenberg Bay

On Wednesday, 6 October 2021, The SA Whale Disentanglement Network (SAWDN) volunteers were activated after reports of a whale entangled in ghost fishing gear off the coast of Plettenberg Bay. ‘Ghost fishing’ gear refers to fishing gear that is lost or abandoned in the ocean after and continues to trap animals in it unintentionally

The volunteers were quick to climb aboard the NSRI Plettenberg Bay sea rescue craft and found a 7.5-metre sub-adult humpback whale on arrival at the scene.

The whale was found entangled with the fishing rope around the tail-stock and trailing fishing. In a difficult disentanglement operation with two kegging lines, floatation buoys attached to the whale were cut, along with the fishing line, using specialised SAWDN cutting equipment. Watch the video below to see this meticulous process.