Whale rescued near Cape Town

A 10 metre adolescent humpback whale was rescued 5.5 kilometres from Cape Point on Sunday, the SA Whale Disentanglement Network (SAWDN) said.

The SAWDN was activated around 11.15am to respond to the South West Reef, where rock lobster fisherman reported finding the whale entangled in rope and buoys anchored in rock lobster traps, spokesman Craig Lambinon said.

When the SAWDN arrived on-scene, the found the whale's left flipper, head, right flipper and tail entangled.

"An extensive disentanglement operation progressed using the specialised disentanglement equipment, made particularly difficult in this case with the tail anchored to the lobster traps submerged under water," he said.

"In an operation lasting an hour and a half, all rope appears to have been successfully removed from the whale."

Usually in such cases the whales the SAWDN has helped tended to linger for a while but in this case, the whale, appearing to be healthy and with minimal injury, continued on its way.

"SAWDN commend the rock lobster fishermen for their speedy reaction in raising the alarm," Lambinon said.