A team of specialists from the Environment Authority, Five Oceans Environmental Services LLC and Future Seas have been working since Tuesday to locate and save an entangled Arabian Sea humpback whale that was stranded in Port of Duqm.
The whale was located on Tuesday afternoon and the complex operation to disentangle the whale began. Losing light the team could not complete the disentanglement on Tuesday but returned on Wednesday morning to find that the whale was no longer in the port.
Without confirmation that the whale was fully disentangled, the team has spent that last 2 days attempting to locate the whale in nearby waters. We are pleased to share with you footage taken by the ROP Coastguard which we hope is evidence that the whale was successfully able to break free from the remaining fishing nets and is now safe.
We would like to express our sincere thanks to the dedicated team of specialist who have been working with guidance from the IWC Global Whale Entanglement Network and to the EAO, ROP Coastguard, ESO and RAFO who have all supported this effort.
Please report any further sightings so we can ensure this mission has been a success.