Ocean Sentry
A fin whale which was found entangled in 40 kilos of fishing nets off the coast of Lanzarote has been freed by a team of divers from the Emerlan emergency consortium on the island.
The young whale, weighing 20 tons and some 10 metres long, was spotted by staff from SECAC Cetaceans Society on Friday. Vidal Martín, president of SECAC, told EFE the whale was scarcely able to move and is believed to have been entangled, unable to eat, for a number of days. Closer inspection revealed the nets had become embedded in the whale’s flesh and were cutting through its tail fin.
It’s the second such incident off the Canary Islands in recent weeks. Another fin whale which had also become entangled in nets was found dead off Gran Canaria two weeks ago.
(From typicallyspanish.com, Canary Islands, Spain)
