Humpback Whale Shows AMAZING Appreciation After Being Freed From Nets

I co-founded Gershon Cohen when Michael Fischbach of Earth Island Institute's Great Whale Conservancy Michael spends two months in the Sea of ​​Cortez each winter photographing red and

humpback

whale

s to help track these magnificent animals across our oceans while observing their complex behaviors. in the wild on Valentine's Day in 2011 Michael, his family and some friends had a rare opportunity to save the life of a

humpback

whale

. Their efforts were captured on film. Here is their incredible story on Valentine's Day while applying the sea waters. de Cortés I found a young humpback whale that seemed to be dead.

We floated next to the whale for several minutes but we saw no signs of life. Suddenly the whale rose slightly in the water and I exhaled strongly. I decided to get into the water with my equipment. snorkel to assess the situation, I quickly discovered that the whale was badly entangled in a gill net of the type used by local fishermen as I swam alongside the animal, our eyes met, there were no words we could share, but I wanted to let the whale I know we were there to help. It took me a little effort to stay focused given the great emotion of the moment.

The sight of this large, beautiful creature trapped and so close to death was almost overwhelming and I must admit I was a little scared because I knew. The whale was scared and fatigued but could still kill me with one panicked movement. The situation was truly a hoot. The tail was tangled in so much gear that it was loaded 15 feet below the surface. Both pectoral fins were stuck to the side of its body and the nylon gillnet reached the top of the whales behind, in front of the dorsal, he was scared. I got his dorsal fin free.

That's all. The layers of happiness are screwed. I made a little progress but it seemed to break a task so We went back on board to the radio, we were told that maybe in an hour someone else would arrive and we all knew that by then it might be too late as I was working around the pectoral fin , shipmates George and WeDo had managed to get some Red thrown over the side of our Pongo. I came back on board and we pulled and cut the net as fast as we could. We were maneuvering the boat into the right position with an oar and we only had a small knife, but after a great effort we managed to free one of the pectoral fins.

It has to be able to breathe - oh no, she is here feeling a spark of

freed

om the young whale He started swimming taking us on a sleigh ride down Nantucket through the Sea of ​​Cortez for about half a mile the whale finally got tired and came back right under us and we continued grabbing more and more net and pulling and cutting, pulling and cutting and after For almost half an hour the other pectoral fin was almost free and when the whale got tired, we finally began to cut the net from the powerful tail fin. After about an hour of backbreaking work, we decided we had a Nothing Etta board to make the final cut.

We hoped there was enough netting on the Fluke to free her. She swam away slowly, but about 500 feet from our boat she rose into the air. She gathered all the net under the boat and we headed five tired but excited people with a boat full of nylon for the next hour. She gave us an incredible full surface display. We saw at least 40 breaches, as well as tail and pectoral slaps. Fin slapping We all thought it was at least a display of pure joy if not thank you What is she doing? We followed her for about four miles over the next hour and said goodbye.

Needless to say, we were all proud and excited to have saved this fantastic young woman. life was an incredible experience that none of us will ever forget Michael I'm in a Movie the Great Whale Conservancy was launched in 2010 to defend the great whales, they need our help and protection to survive, learn more about our current efforts and Find out how we can work together. Call or email us and visit the Great Whale Conservancy website.