Underwater Whale Rescue: Humpback Freed From Fishing Nets (VIDEO)

A Humpback whale faced the very serious threat of drowning after being caught in fishing nets in Mexico. Stuck there for days, a team of divers went to work trying to set the whale free. According to one rescuer, the whale "was stressed; she was throwing her tail about, moving quite a lot. You could tell she was asking for help."

This certainly isn't the first time an animal has been unintentionally caught in a fishing net. Rare sea turtles, such as the threatened loggerhead, are frequently caught in Atlantic trawl nets. According to a 2005 report by the World Wildlife Fund, "Almost one thousand whales, dolphins, and porpoises die every day in nets and fishing gear." Beyond nets, the ramifications of overfishing are far-reaching. Last year, over 500 penguins were found dead on Brazilian beaches over the course of just ten days -- it is suspected that the penguins starved to death due to overfishing.

Recent reports suggest that efforts are being made to stop both problems. There have been advances in fishing nets and efforts to curb overfishing. While the freed whale is certainly a success story, it leaves behind an uncomfortable thought: Why is it upsetting when one animal species is caught in a net, but it's standard practice to catch another animal species in that same net?

WATCH this underwater rescue:

Comments

[Jaxsie]

11:46 AM on 02/17/2011

It is refreshing to see stories like this; a positive light shed on humans who are actually HELPING earths beautiful creatures that we (or THEY, not ME) so often hurt....even though the original cause of this incident was due to man. Many thanks to those guys for their angelic assistance.

[Cheyla]

02:22 PM on 02/15/2011

Well, you could have told us a bit about these s/heroes - who are they? How can we support them, etc.

[Jaxsie]

11:40 AM on 02/17/2011

GREAT question, I absolutely agree

[blitznstitch]

11:39 AM on 02/15/2011

to answer the question, we eat one but not the other. Overfishing is a very serious problem, we could eat the ocean empty. we are a very evasive species.

[anti politricks]

01:02 PM on 02/15/2011

we've eating the ocean so close to empty now that japanese "fishers" are actually killing dolphins by the thousands just because we feel dolphins are getting too big a piece of the seafood pie.

we're overfished so much that we are killing other mammals because we feel we're in competition for food.

[plages]

10:31 AM on 02/15/2011

And the IWC is still allowing whaling to continue, and the Chinese love Shark fin soup, while cutting the fin off of live sharks, and then dumping the entire body over the side! Where as the African states on the east side of Africa have had their fish populations decimated by corporate fishing. And they say why do these people become pirates? GREED is killing all of us!

[humpfree]

09:26 AM on 02/15/2011

"Why is it upsetting when one animal species is caught in a net, but it's standard practice to catch another animal species in that same net?"

I think there's a big difference between a fish and a whale. The cognitive ability of the latter is remarkable. A fish on the other hand forgets what it was doing 3 seconds ago.

[anti politricks]

01:04 PM on 02/15/2011

if something defiantly fights for its life upon realizing it is being killed or dying, then maybe we should take a closer look.
whether it remembers what happened 3 seconds ago or not, it still fights to live.

to a bear, you and a fish are one in the same.

[humpfree]

07:55 PM on 02/15/2011

A roach will do the same. If you found one on your kitchen floor would you not step on it?

I'm not trying to be snide. I see your point and I'll agree to it so far as I don't believe any living creature should suffer needlessly.

And I don't place any special importance on humans when it comes to the natural order. If a bear or a shark (more likely) decides I'm dinner, that's nature working as it should.

I have to ask- how do you feel about the Makah killing whales in The Puget Sound as they've done traditionally for hundreds of years? Or the people of Iceland doing the same?

[paddy523]

09:25 AM on 02/15/2011

I hate to say it but, if the human race are the "guardians of our earthly companions" they are doomed!! and us right along with them!

[mtview]

08:42 AM on 02/15/2011

As a friend of mine said years ago when "dolphin-free tuna" became all the rage - what about the tuna?

[cybersense]

10:57 AM on 02/15/2011

Dolphins eat fish too.

[lightist]

04:13 AM on 02/15/2011

Quite simply, we are the guardians of Earthly companions we ensnare. What a strange species we are.

[Dominique Clincke]

04:05 AM on 02/15/2011

People should clean up there fishing nets!
If they clean it, fish wouldn't get stuck in it.
This wale was lucky that he's been rescued, but other fish just die, and that's a shame!

[Ganeshari]

12:33 AM on 02/15/2011

"Why is it upsetting when one animal species is caught in a net, but it's standard practice to catch another animal species in that same net?" You haven't seen any fish saving humans, communicating with humans, or healing children with autism and other disorders have you?

[Siren Song]

01:07 AM on 02/15/2011

Dolphins have rescued people and shielded them from sharks. Wolves have kept children alive by warming them with their bodies. What about the daily work of service dogs? There are many, many instances of animals helping man.

[DebofMD]

01:58 AM on 02/15/2011

Thanks for a great post.

[Olethea]

06:12 AM on 02/15/2011

I've heard about the dolphins. There is a place where divers go (I forget where now, you could probably google it) where if you go limp and allow yourself to sink, the dolphins will push you to the surface, presumably for air. The wolves? Never heard of it.

But service dogs are different. For the most part, they're doing what they're trained to do for some reward. Altruism isn't part of that scenario.

[MexiChick67]

02:18 AM on 02/15/2011

No, but there is a balance that we humans have to observe. Otherwise it throws the delicate balance off. We are not that high on the food chain. Anything that affects animals will eventually catch up on us. Plus, the whole autism is being seen as perhaps man made. All of the chemicals affecting the brains of children. Another possible disregard from man-kind.

[DFC]

12:25 AM on 02/15/2011

Correction: the Radiolab podcast I referred to is titled "Animal Minds", January 11, 2010. The whale segment follows the story titled "Animal Blessings".

http://www.radiolab.org/2010/jan/11/

Highly recommended, far, far better than this short video.

[DFC]

12:19 AM on 02/15/2011

A similar and quite dramatic rescue of a humpback near the Farallone Islands off the coast of San Francisco happened in late 2005. Read about it: http://articles.sfgate.com/2005-12-14/news/17403910_1_humpback-crab-pots-whale

A moving retelling of the story by one of the divers can be heard on the January 13, 2010 Radiolab podcast "Animal Blessings": http://www.radiolab.org/2010/jan/11/animal-blessings/

The end of the story is especially compelling. When they finally got the whale completely free of the crab pots that would otherwise eventually drown it, this wild animal that initially distrusted them, didn't just swim off. Listen to the recounting.

[mudshark12]

12:14 AM on 02/15/2011

One interesting fact I gleaned from this article:

According to a 2005 report by the World Wildlife Fund, "Almost one thousand whales, dolphins, and porpoises DIE EVERY DAY day in nets and fishing gear."

If this is even close then it is no wonder their populations are in a decline. Overfishing MUST be addressed before its too late.

[espressobeans]

05:04 AM on 02/15/2011

It seems to be a very serious problem.

[1differentdrummer]

05:39 AM on 02/15/2011

Some species are threatened. Once they're gone they're gone forever.

[Robert Frank]

09:21 AM on 02/15/2011

overpopulation is the root cause of the overfishing...if people didn't breed like flies with no regard for the consequences the problem wouldn't be so great because the demand for fish wouldn't be as great

[mudshark12]

01:19 AM on 02/16/2011

You are quite correct! Zero Population Growth is a concept that has been around since the early 70's, the only nation that has made it law is .... China. Less people needing less food and other resources makes good sense. Human beings on the other hand are not known for making any kind of sense.

Unfortunately it don't look like we are going to have any forward thinking leadership for quite some time due to certain people in power LIKING to dispute and argue about everything.

[Jon H Soeder]

12:07 AM on 02/15/2011

One thing nice about the internet is that everyone is allowed their opinions. I think also that one should be allowed one's reality as well. If the guy there felt that the whale was asking for help, why is that not possible?

Anthropomorphize would mean the whale is like us and has similar feelings, etc. Well, considering the amount of information we know about whales and their social pods as well as the size of their brains, it really is no stretch to consider what the man said was true.

If anything humans are pretty arrogant and although I consider myself part of the human race, I know that there is a lot that I don't know. I have recently read articles and gotten first-hand accounts of people that have helped other whales and these people have a profound experience. Once freed the whale comes back and "nudges" each of the divers and then swims off! That is not anthropmorphizing! That is intelligence and self awareness.

But that is my opinion. And what I just expressed has not happened once but hundreds of times around the world.

So it is a wonderful thing people have done. A very responsible thing.

[Olethea]

11:28 PM on 02/14/2011

While it's noble to help save this whale, I think it's a stretch to say she was "asking for help." Let's not anthropomorphize- she was thrashing because she was scared.

[Goliadkin]

12:29 AM on 02/15/2011

Saying she was scared is anthropomorphizing, too, IMHO.

[Jesse Kelly 1]

02:01 AM on 02/15/2011

Is it anthropomorphizing if it's true? I don't think so.

[Olethea]

06:05 AM on 02/15/2011

You might want to look up the meaning of the word. :)

[Siren Song]

01:11 AM on 02/15/2011

I think it is possible for the very intelligent mammals to communicate, in their fashion, with man. Many people have talked about looking whales in the eye, and feeling a form of understanding, of acknowledgement.

[dsws]

01:07 PM on 02/15/2011

Whales certainly communicate, but they don't use facial expressions. A human probably can communicate better with a dolphin by looking the dolphin in the eye, but only because that's what humans do while communicating, not because the eye contact actually carries any of the communication the way it would with another human.