The Department of Conservation is calling for sightings of a humpback whale entangled in fishing gear off the Otago coast. The whale had a line wrapped around its body and tail and was trailing a buoy while swimming slowly north. Doc ranger Mike Morrissey, who leads the South Island large whale disentanglement team, asked boaties to report any sightings of the whale. "It can be dangerous and removing the buoy makes it more difficult for our trained team to carry out the whale disentanglement procedures. "People seeing the whale can assist our rescue response by staying with the whale, monitoring it and advising of its exact location for our disentanglement team to get to it.''

Source: Otago Daily Times March 29, 2019 02:03 UTC