Lifeboat crews and marine workers risked their lives to cut free a southern right whale that had become entangled in a deadly cat’s cradle of ropes and buoys.

The increasingly distressed whale thrashed about in False Bay, off Cape Town, as the team of specialists attempted to save it. While trying to cut away the ropes the rescuers had to watch out for the lashing tail, which threatened to smash into their motorised dinghies. Anyone struck by a swipe of the tail from the 30ft (10m) creature was likely to have been killed instantly.

The southern right whale became entangled after swimming into a line of ropes linking lobster pots to buoys and was trailing four or five of them.

Each rope can be more than 600ft long and they are laid out “in walls” by fishermen. At least nine whales have been seen entangled in fishing tackle this year off South Africa. Six of them were caught in lobster tackle, two were freed but a juvenile died after being ensnared last year.

The southern right whale freed this week was spotted over the weekend but sea conditions were initailly too rough for a rescue to be launched. Conditions had calmed down sufficiently on Tuesday for a team from the recently formed Whale Disentanglement Network (WDN) to be scrambled.

Whales can get caught in the tackle because when they brush up against the ropes they have a tendency to twist into them. The problem is on the rise in South African waters, where the lobster-trapping season has been extended and where whale numbers are rising by about 7 per cent annually. Up to 200,000 traps are put out each year. Ian Wienberg, chief executive of the National Sea Rescue Institute, one of the organisations in the WDN, said: “We went out and spent about an hour cutting the whale free. This whale would have had a hard time to survive if we hadn’t succeeded. It’s one of the worst entanglements I’ve seen.

He said that the sight of wildlife caught up in fishing tackle happens all too frequently but that marine workers are now to meet the Lobster Association to discuss ways to reduce the impact of lobster traps.

Nan Rice, chairman of the WDN, said that the specially trained crews who freed the whale were escstatic after succeeding in cutting away the tackle. She praised them for their bravery: “Right whales often become aggressive. They bang down with their flukes — it’s terrifying. If a whale’s tail crashes into you, you’ve had it.” When the team reached the stricken whale they attached large buoys to the base of the tail to keep the animal at the surface. A satellite beacon was added so that they could find the whale again if it swam off and then they began the task of cutting away the ropes.

Whales that become caught in fishing gear can become so badly entangled that they are unable to feed or swim properly and can starve to death.

Regina Asmutis-Silvia, a US-based member of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, said that some have been known to trail tackle for five years.

“The ropes can cut into the skin to cause infections or prevent them from feeding,” Mrs Asmutis-Silvia said. “It can take 6-18 months for them to die a very painful death. Sometimes the rope saws through the bone.”

Although the whale dwarfed its rescuers, it was a juvenile and little more than half the size of a fully grown male southern right whale.

Ocean giant

— Southern right whales live for about 70 years

— There are an estimated 7,000 in the world

— During the winter and spring they are found in their coastal mating and calving grounds, concentrated along the South African coastline

— They have huge growths on their heads that make them easy to identify

— Right whales were so called because when whaling began they were literally considered the “right” whales to hunt

— Adult male right whales have the largest testes in the animal kingdom. Each pair weighs about 1 tonne, the same weight as a newborn right whale

Source: Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

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