Cottesloe whale rescue: Marine scientist ‘hopeless’ after spotting young humpback tangled in fishing rope

A marine scientist has spoken of the “hopeless” moment he spotted a young humpback whale tangled in fishing rope off the coast of Cottesloe. Matt Kleczkowski, who also works as a marine photographer, was using his drone to capture the mullet migration on Saturday afternoon when he spotted the 8m-long gentle giant about 300m off Cottesloe Beach. “Initially I was excited because it was the first humpback whale in Perth (that I had seen) for the season,” he told The West Australian. “The excitement turned a bit more sombre seeing the rope wrapped around it, so the mood kind of changed. “The whole plan changed form photography to feeling a sense of helplessness and wanting to help and support it.” Mr Kleczkowski said the mammal swum north towards Trigg Beach, before turning around and resting at the North Mole, near Port Beach. “The whale was towing the rope around . . . it didn’t look good, it looked like it may have had a bit of chafing and maybe a bit of an injury, but it wasn’t bleeding,” he said. “It was pretty hard to watch, I just spotted the animal and tracked it up and down the coast, wondering how it was doing.” Fremantle Sea Rescue and Whitfords Sea Rescue located the whale and stayed with it until the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions’ Parks and Wildlife Service team arrived. Over a period of three hours, the Parks and Wildlife Service attached five “floats” and a satellite tracker onto the whale to slow it down. “The crew used a smaller point boat to approach the whale and successfully cut the rope (also detaching the kegs and tracker),” a DBCA spokesperson said. The whale was fully disentangled and swum away in a northerly direction on Saturday afternoon. Perth local Gabby Thompson witnessed the whale swimming away and said “once it was freed, everyone on the beach cheered.” Mr Kleczkowski said humpback whales migrated north to warmer waters during winter months, but said they were normally spotted further out at sea. “They get seen off Rottnest and a bit further offshore, we don’t see too many in close,” he said. “That’s the first one I’ve seen this season so I was pretty excited . . . and it was good to see it freed in the end.” Mr Kleczkowski said it was concerning to see marine animals tangled in rubbish. “It’s never nice to see, it’s a bit of a worry,” he said. “(Whales) are smart animals, but maybe (this whale) was a bit younger and maybe a bit clumsy and didn’t know what to do with its pectoral fins yet. “It’s always a bit sad.”