The sight is distressing: a juvenile humpback whale, separated from its mother, and so badly entangled in ropes it bears deep cuts and scars along the length of its body.
This is the predicament facing authorities and locals along the NSW and Victorian coasts, who have over the past fortnight spotted the calf with ropes tightly wound around the base of its dorsal fin.
Deep welts indicate the ropes have shifted over a period of time, inflicting multiple wounds on the juvenile whale.
The Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA) first received a report of an entangled young whale off the coast of Tathra, on NSW’s far south coast, on January 31.
ORRCA spokeswoman Pip Jacobs said the juvenile whale was next seen more than 200km north, off the coast of Jervis Bay, on February 4.
Late last week it was spotted again – this time off Refuge Cove, on the eastern side of Wilsons Promontory National Park, on the Victorian side of the border and heading south.
“It does look like quite a young whale, like it’s potentially just left its mother, and that normally happens after about a year old,” Jacobs said.
“But this particular whale is also showing a lot of decline in body condition, likely due to the entanglement … it is seemingly underweight, so that also impedes our ability to age it.”
Jacobs said a specialised whale entanglement team would be required to free the animal if found.
“Disentanglement is incredibly difficult and dangerous,” she said. “If you can imagine, a humpback whale can weigh up to 40 tonnes, and it is a large animal that is in stress as well.
“We would never encourage any member of the public to disentangle a whale on their own, because they’re not licensed to do so, but also because it’s incredibly dangerous, [depending] on water conditions, as well as the condition of the whale and how it’s behaving.”
It is unusual to see humpback whales at this time of year in Australian waters.
Ongoing attempts by search teams on private vessels and authorities in Victoria to locate the animal, last spotted on the weekend, have been unsuccessful.
Orcas, also known as killer whales, which are known to predate upon juvenile humpback whales, are also in the area.
A spokesperson for Victoria’s Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) Incident Management Team said the whale had been moving very slowly and appeared underweight.
The spokesperson said abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear, known as ghost nets, are a global problem directly impacting marine life such as whales.
DEECA Incident Controller Renee Hutchison said the ongoing search had covered a vast area since the whale was first reported to Victorian authorities on February 14.
“The area we are searching with spotter planes is quite large, which means people in boats near Wilsons Promontory are a valuable resource to complement the DEECA search efforts.”
ORRCA has urged members in Victoria and Tasmania to report any sightings of the whale to DEECA Emergency Whale and Dolphin Rescue Hotline on 1300 136 017 or ORRCA on (02) 9415 3333.
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Bianca Hall is The Age’s environment and climate reporter, and has worked in a range of roles including as a senior writer, city editor, and in the federal politics bureau in Canberra.Connect via X, Facebook or email.From our partners
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
