South African Divers returning to land stopped to free a Humpback Whale caught in shark nets.
Last week Friday, Mike Fraser and his son Alan were returning to the Ramsgate launch site after an afternoon of diving.
En route back to land, they found a humpback whale entangled in a shark net.
“My son Alan, better known as Moo and I were returning to the Ramsgate launch site after a magic dive off San Lameer when we came upon a humpback whale badly entangled in the Ramsgate shark nets.”
The whale was incredibly stressed and the Fraser’s were worried that it would drown. He was trying to escape the nets but they could see the exhaustion.
“Moo grabbed his mask, fins and the bait knife and piled overboard to help the whale, while I held the boat in position.”
It’s a dangerous task trying to assist a wild animal which is several times the size of an African elephant but the whale seemed to understand that the diver was there to assist him.
He calmed down and stopped trying to free himself.
“The whale’s tiny eyes were fixed on him the entire time, watching him cut away the nets. It made squeaking, whimpering sounds through the whole process, almost speaking to Alan.”
After 20 minutes of working on the net, Alan was able to free the whale which continued to be cautious, moving slowly out of the entangled net.
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It stopped to spray out its blowhole, almost to thank the divers and them swam to freedom.
“The joy of watching it blow once and swim powerfully away was so incredibly overwhelming.”
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