Injured humpback whale rescue
The whale has deep cuts in its tail from the fishing net. Photo: Guðlaugur Ottesen
Several boats went to the aid of a humpback whale entangled in fishing net in Faxaflói bay earlier this week. Rescuers were only able to remove a part of the netting and are now venturing on another mission to remove the netting from the injured animal.
The boats involved in the rescue are from the Icelandic Coast Guard and whale watching companies Special Tours and Whale Safari. "We saw him yesterday but the weather wasn't good enough to be able to help him," says María Björk Gunnarsdóttir at IceWhale, the organisation of whale watching companies in Iceland. "He's badly entangled in the net, it goes over his tail, through his mouth and all over his body," she explains and says that the earlier attempt only managed to cut off a tangle of netting which he was dragging along with him. She adds that he's in surprisingly good shape considering that his tail is severely wounded from the netting so he must be in considerable pain. "He's able to swim and to eat, but of course he won't make it for very long like this."
This weekend, boats from Special Tours, Whale Safari and Elding accompanied by the Iceland Coast Guard will attempt to remove the netting. "We need to build up trust with this whale. We are sailing very slowly towards him and taking our time to read into its behaviour."
