On Saturday, 21st March, at around midday, NSRI Yzerfontein’s SA Whale Disentanglement Network (SAWDN) volunteers were activated to launch the sea rescue craft SPIRIT OF IFFLEY to assist fellow SAWDN volunteers, who launched a private boat, with a SAWDN whale disentanglement operation for a juvenile Humpback whale entangled in rope and floatation buoys in the vicinity of Dassen Island.
The operation continued until after 18h00 and all rope and floatation buoys were removed and recovered successfully.
On Friday, 20th March, SAWDN volunteers had launched a private boat to respond to the same whale but only one rope could be removed and the operation continued on Saturday.
The whale was feisty, mobile, and led the operation back and forth around Dassen Island while rope and floatation buoys were gradually removed using specialised whale disentanglement equipment and the whale appears to be healthy and it appears that the operation has been successful.
