Whale rescue: collaborative efforts get humpback off the hook:A HUMPBACK whale which became tangled in lobster pots off the Co Wexford coast has been released in a collaborative rescue involving anglers, divers and lifeboat volunteers.
The rescue “made my Father’s Day”, said Kevin McCabe, an amateur angler from Naas, Co Kildare, who witnessed the effort on Sunday evening.
He had been treated to a sea angling trip by his wife and son Andrew (16), organised for Father’s Day.
After leaving Ballyhack pier, Mr McCabe, his son Andrew and friends were off Slade rock on the angling vessel Orinoco when the alert was raised.
Seán Murray, a charter engineer from Campile, New Ross, Co Wexford, was out with the Hook Sub Aqua Club in the same sea area. “We were preparing to dive off Hook Head when I spotted the whale in difficulty,” he said.
The lobster pots were marked with flags and the mammal was clearly unable to free itself.
Efforts by divers and anglers proved unsuccessful and the RNLI Fethard inshore lifeboat was dispatched to assist by the Irish Coast Guard.
“We patched a call through to Eugene Brennan of the Marine Mammal Rescue Team,” Mr McCabe said. “He told us to make sure that all divers were out of the water to keep themselves safe, to make sure all boat engines were in idle and to approach only with smaller vessels.”
Mr Brennan has trained lifeboat personnel in the area. He said the RNLI volunteers reacted “perfectly” to the situation, working with the coxwains of the dive vessels and the skipper of the Orinoco. The inshore lifeboat untangled the pots and the male whale swam off and is believed to have joined a pod close by.
“To have a rescue succeed like that was a fantastic feat,” Mr Brennan said. “It is very hard to explain to people that human emotion is the last thing you need, to ensure that everyone is safe. The whale was very frightened and the tail fluke was thrashing around, which could have been very risky.”
Humpback whales feed regularly in Irish waters and are known for their medleys of groans, moans and whines. Their song is believed to have inspired the Blasket island air Port na bPúcaí.
Humpbacks grow to a maximum 15.24m (50ft) and are known for their spectacular breach and “lobtailing” with their flukes.
They breed in warm-water breeding grounds and there are only a few thousand left. One regular visitor to the west Cork coast over the last few years was nicknamed “Boomerang”.
Almost two years ago, the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) and the Dutch-based North Sea Foundation tracked a young humpback whale from the Netherlands to west Cork.
The juvenile was photographed in May 2007 in the Wadden Sea off the Dutch coast.
More than four months later, the same animal was photographed 1,200km (746 miles) away, off Toe Head in west Cork.
The IWDG and the North Sea Foundation believe that this is the first time the movement of a humpback whale has been tracked within European waters and confirmed with photo- identification techniques.