In a captivating underwater rescue, Spanish divers released a 12-meter humpback whale entangled in an illegal drifting net off Mallorca’s Balearic Islands.
One of the divers, 32-year-old marine biologist Gigi Toras, said last Friday’s rescue and a slight gesture of gratitude from the giant mammal were also her birthday present – what she described as “the best so far”.
“It was like out of this world, it was amazing, just amazing,” she told Reuters on Tuesday. This is only the third time a hunchback has been seen around the Balearic Islands.
The weakened whale was spotted by a ship about five kilometers off the east coast of Mallorca, prompting the Palma de Mallorca Marine Rescue Center.
They found that the whale was completely caught in the red fishing net, so it could not even open its mouth.
WATCH The diver describes being underwater next to the whale, working to free it:
“Like entering a completely different dimension”
Marine biologist and diver Gigi Toras describes the feeling of being underwater, up to a humpback whale, working with colleagues to cut the tangled fishing nets that caught the 12-meter mammal.
After initial attempts to cut the net from a boat failed, divers from the Albatros and Skualo diving centers joined the effort and dived into the sea to remove the net with their knives in a daring 45-minute operation.
“For the first ten seconds she was a little nervous, you know, like bubbles everywhere, but then I don’t know, call me crazy, but I think she knew we were there to help her and she just relaxed and we started working from the front of her mouth back, “said Albatros owner Toras.
“We kept cutting and cutting and she moved a little to get out of it,” Thoras said, adding that the mammal then stayed for a while to regain its strength in the company of the four divers and even gave what it looked like. as a “little token of gratitude” before we surfaced.
A trapped humpback whale and divers are seen in the waters off Mallorca during a 45-minute effort to cut a fishing net from a mammal. (NGO Xaloc / Hector Gago / Reuters)
Drift nets are called “walls of death” because of the number of other marine life they catch in addition to the fish they are set to catch. They were banned by the UN 30 years ago.
Add Comment