A humpback whale has been freed after getting entangled in a buoy rope in the Tasman Sea.
The whale was rescued by a research team from the Sea World Foundation, who spotted the distressed creature 16 kilometres off the coast of Disaster Bay, between Green Cape in New South Wales and Cape Howe in Victoria.
The team was retrieving a satellite tag at the time they noticed a whale swimming next to a Waverider buoy, and quickly realised something was wrong.
“We noticed there was a whale sitting against it, we could not believe our eyes that we had stumbled across a humpback whale that had dragged (the buoy) somewhere from way up the coast,” Sea World skipper Andy Mulville said.
“The whale had been through a lot, we’re not sure how long it had been entangled for but it was quite a long duration, you could tell.
“It had quite a bit of skin off, it had bumps, bruises, it was bleeding all over the pecks around the eye.
“It had shackles and chain across its eye… it was completely engulfed in rope.”
The team worked together to free the whale, eventually cutting the rope with a knife and freeing it from the chains.
A second whale and a of couple dolphins swimming near the distressed whale were also spotted by the team.
“The feeling never gets old, to be able to contribute to the animals down here, it’s pretty cool,” marine mammal specialist Ben Markham said.
“We didn’t have the back-up that we usually do but everyone played their part.”
The team said the whale was headed towards Antarctica, meaning the chances of it being spotted by someone else and rescued were slim.
