Photo: Anthony Rigell
On Thursday 30 January, British Divers Marine Life Rescue received a report of an entangled humpback whale off the coast of Skye, Scotland. Initial assessment showed the whale was entangled in a rope and unable to swim freely.
Members of our Large Whale Disentanglement Team mobilised from across the UK, arriving at the location mid-afternoon, with further members of the team arriving in the evening. With fading light and essential members of the team arriving after dark, the team formulated a plan during the night.
Underwater footage taken on Thursday afternoon showed that the entanglement the team thought was a single wrap was instead a double wrap around the whale’s head and left pectoral fin. This made the rescue even more difficult as the cutting plan needed to make sure the whale wasn’t left with any rope still attached. The rope needed to be cut in a sequence so the last cut would allow the whale to swim free.
At first light on the morning of Friday 31 January, the team arrived on site. In a small boat, up close to a large powerful, and likely stressed animal, the rescue was incredibly dangerous. After drawing closer to the animal, cutting different sections of rope, and continually reassessing, the whale was cut free at around 1030am.
The whale took some time to regain its composure, possibly exhausted and initially not knowing it was free. However, after a short time, the whale started swimming freely and was later seen heading north, swimming strongly, diving, and returning to the surface.
We would like to thank our local Medics in Skye who assisted with monitoring and worked with the local community to ensure members of the public did not get close to the whale; Organic Sea Harvest who suspended operations and greatly assisted with the rescue; Anthony Rigell who assisted us with drone footage and monitored the whale; Colin Lane and members of HMCG; the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme and many others for their incredible support during this very difficult rescue.
Rescues like this are extremely dangerous and cost us tens of thousands of pounds every year to train our team and mobilise them to rescue locations. Please consider donating towards these costs here. Thank you.
