The race is on to disentangle a juvenile humpback whale from a craypot line after it was seen in Tory Channel this afternoon.
Department of Conservation spokeswoman Trish Grant said the whale was seen by ferry captains in Cook Strait mid-morning today and again in Tory Channel about midday.
Special equipment and members of a team trained in whale disentanglement have arrived from Kaikoura to try and free the whale before darkness fell, she said. Members of the team from Blenheim were also travelling to the site.
Two vessels, a 5.3 metre inflatable NAIAD and an 8.5 metre catamaran, have just left Picton to find the whale.
Disentangling whales is a slow process which can take several hours and requires good sea conditions and plenty of light.
It was not safe to continue the rescue operation after dark and the team will abandon the rescue if night falls and they have not freed it, she said.
The mammal was large and unpredictable and the cray pot line and buoy were restricting its movement which was likely to make it distressed, she said.
A team conducting a Cook Strait Whale Survey were tracking the whale until the team from Kaikoura and Blenheim arrive by boat from Picton.
The whale was first seen off Kaitorete Spit, Banks Peninsula on June 27 and DOC had appealed
to the public for sightings.
- The Marlborough Express
SIMON WONG
Spotted: The whale making its way north with the craypot line and buoy wrapped around its tail.
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