Divers from the Italian coast guard work to free a sperm whale caught in a fishing net in the sea north of the Aeolian Islands of Sicily in this still image taken from a video, July 19, 2020. Italian Coast Guard / Brochure via REUTERS
ROME (Reuters) – The Italian coast guard has been working for days to free a massive sperm whale caught in an abandoned fishing net in the open sea off the Aeolian Islands of Sicily.
The whale was spotted on Saturday struggling to break free from a net that is generally used to illegally fish swordfish.
The coast guard said in a statement that operations were hampered by the whale’s large size, which had been highly agitated.
Due to its energetic efforts to free itself, the whale received the name of “Fury”.
It is the second time in less than a month that the Italian coast guard has had to intervene to free a sperm whale entangled in a fishing net.
“These damn fishing nets are doing great damage. I haven’t slept in 36 hours … the divers managed to remove something from the net, but then it started to move and became too dangerous, “biologist Mónica Blasi told La Repubblica newspaper.
Blasi said they placed a light on Fury’s tail to keep her in sight while trying to remove the rest of the net.
Reports by Cristiano Corvino and Antonio Denti; written by Angelo Amante; editing by Giles Elgood
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