Humpback whale freed from crayfish pot rope in waters off Whangamata

Whangamata Harbourmaster Steve Wise was one of those involved in a dramatic rescue of a humpback whale on Sunday. Photo / File

When the mayday call came in about a stricken humpback whale which became entangled with a crayfish pot rope several Whangamatā locals immediately swung into action.

Whangamatā harbourmaster Steve Wise learned of the whale's difficulties about noon on Sunday while he was already out on the water.

Wise said, after checking with the Department of Conservation, he was given the go-ahead to try to help free the stricken whale.

The skipper of private local launch the Carol Ann, who was fishing in the harbour nearby, also jumped in to help look for the whale, he said.

Wise said three other boats had followed the whale, probably an adolescent, for some time but it still took about half an hour to find it.

It was in about 30m deep water about three nautical miles out to sea between Whangamatā and Onemana, he said.

Wise said the rope of a crayfish pot, set off the coast of Opoutere, was wrapped around the whale's tail had been dragged behind it for quite a few miles.

"I knew the skipper of the Carol Ann, so he hopped on board my boat and another man from one of the following trailer boats also came on board to help free the whale."

Armed with a knife, a rope on a winch and with the two other men standing on the bow of his boat giving directions, they cautiously approached the whale.

"We had to very careful because if the whale had become more distressed we didn't know how it might react but I think it was pretty winded and exhausted by that point.

"So as I quietly came up behind the whale, the skipper of the Carol Ann managed to grab the rope with a boat hook and wrapped it around the winch on the bow of my boat."

Wise said with the other skipper guiding him, he turned his boat sideways and managed to unravel the rope from the whale's tail before hauling the crayfish pot on to the winch.

"All of a sudden the whale was free and it swam off beautifully, then it suddenly dived and we never saw it again. It was pretty awesome feeling to see it do that," he said.

Wise said there were lots of high fives and feelings of "jubilation" and all the other boaties nearby came over to rejoice with them.

Ironically, Wise said he rescued a 4kg snapper from the inner harbour at Whangamatā on Friday with his bare hands but unfortunately the fish had a broken back.

"They say things came in threes, so I wonder what will be next," he said.

Some facts about humpback whales:

- Have a small dorsal fin with a distinctive hump at the front, knobbly protuberances on the head, the tip of their lower jaw and leading edge of extremely long flippers

- Their tail flukes are broad with unique black and white colour patterns which allows individuals to be identified

- Generally coloured black with white on the underside and on the flippers, newborns are 4m-5m in length and adults 11.5m-15m

- Migrating thousands of miles to their feeding and breeding grounds, they are well-known for their spectacular breaching and beautiful, complex songs

Source: Department of Conservation