Whale rescue mission abandoned

Rescuers have abandoned a search for a whale entangled in fishing lines off the remote West Australian coast after losing track of the distressed mammal.

The 10-metre humpback became entangled in cray lines off Ningaloo Station, 1,160km north of Perth, up to two weeks ago and its movement has since been severely hampered.

The Department of Conservation and Land Management today launched a reconnaissance plane to try to find the whale, which could not be untangled from the lines yesterday because rescuers lacked the necessary equipment.

The Cessna searched 100km of coastline for almost four hours today but could not locate the whale, department nature conservation coordinator Roland Mau said.

The search was called off about 11.20am (WST), with rescuers hopeful a fisherman in the remote waters had managed to remove part of the line, allowing the whale to swim more freely.

"Experience proves that once a whale is lost it's difficult to find it again," Mr Mau said.

"It's obviously on the move."

The humpback, which authorities last saw late yesterday in shallow water around the Ningaloo Reef, had been travelling slowly and its breathing was laboured.

It also was being followed by tiger sharks.

"It's wasn't in a good way late yesterday," Mr Mau said.

"There's a pink colouration on its back which indicates its health isn't that good.

"It has a very weak diving pattern which indicates quite possibly it's had the entanglement for a couple of weeks."

Despite being unable to find the whale, Mr Mau said the humpback had not died because sharks would have taken its remains and the blood would have been visible from the air.

The search of the remote waters would not be renewed unless the department received a confirmed sighting, and even then, it would have to be close enough to shore for rescuers to reach it, Mr Mau said.

He said the whale now faced a tough journey to its feeding grounds in the Antarctic but it was not clear if it had the strength to reach the southern latitudes.

He also predicted there would be more incidents of whales becoming stuck in fishing lines as their populations increased.

"This is going to become a greater issue in Australia with the whale population recovering," he said.

"For humpback whales, current estimates are for annual growth of 10 per cent in the population.

"A similar concern is shark netting along the coasts ... as the population continues to increase it's probably something we have to have a closer look at."

A second whale which was tangled in ropes at a mussel farm off another part of the West Australian coast was freed yesterday.

Rescuers spent an hour working to release the calf which became trapped near Mistaken Island off Albany, 400km south of Perth.

The calf was believed to be back with its mother and making a recovery.

A juvenile humpback died after becoming entangled in a shark net off the Gold Coast on August 1.

Source: www.theaustralian.news.com.au