A team of divers and conservationists have struggled for days to free a sperm whale trapped in illegal fishing gear off the Italian island of Salina.
The sperm whale got entangled in drift nets.
The rescue operation took over 48 hours and was still ongoing on Monday, July 20, The Guardian reported. The whale was spotted on Saturday, July 18. ‘The whale seems to have gone crazy,’ Carmelo Isgrò, a biologist and diver, said on Monday. ‘We thought that after 24 hours he would get tired, but instead it is not making our job easy.’
Watch the rescue operation:
This is the second time in a matter of weeks that a whale has been trapped in fishing nets in the area.
‘There is so much bitterness and anger towards these damned drift nets which once again seem to have got the better of one of the most beautiful and majestic sea giants in the world,’ Monica Blasi, a biologist at Filicudi wildlife conservation told The Guardian.
Drift nets hang vertically in the water without being anchored to the bottom, and have floats attached to a rope along the top of the net and weights attached along the bottom of the net. This method of fishing relies on entanglement to capture fish, but is widely frowned upon and banned in many parts of the world. The illegal use of these nets, however, remain widespread and continue to threaten whales, dolphins, seals and other animals.
Image: Twitter/Italian Coastguard
