Overview

• A juvenile humpback, about 35 feet long, was spotted near Sydney on June 22 with its mouth, body and fin wrapped in roughly 490 feet of rope and was freed after a four- to five-hour operation on June 23.
• Drone footage used under a regulatory exemption allowed rescuers to pinpoint rope locations and monitor the whale’s behavior throughout the New South Wales disentanglement.
• On June 25, an 8-metre humpback was rescued in Moreton Bay by Sea World Foundation and Queensland National Parks rangers in a 20-minute operation despite choppy conditions.
• Discarded fishing gear, known as ghost gear, contributes to about 10% of marine debris and kills an estimated 300,000 cetaceans each year.
• With roughly 40,000 humpbacks expected to migrate up the east coast this season, multi-agency teams remain on standby for further entanglement rescues.