Disentanglement Network formed
15 February 2006
The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, as one of the members
of the newly established South African Disentanglement Network, will
participate in a two-day workshop from 16 to 17 February 2006, focusing on how
to efficiently and safely disentangle whales and monitor scientifically
entanglement rates of whales in South African coastal waters.
Other partners involved in the South African Whale Disentanglement Network
are the Dolphin Action and Protection Group, The Sharks Board NSRI SAPS Divers,
Border Police, Mammal Research Institute and the Table Mountain National
Park.
South Africa has developed as one of the whale watching areas of the world.
Its policy regarding the utilisation of its whale resources is to reserve these
exclusively for non-consumptive use, namely boat - and shore based whale
watching. Whale watching has grown tremendously in South Africa and is regarded
as one of the eco-tourism priorities.
Increasingly on an international level, entanglement of whales is becoming
an area of concern.
In South African waters the main entanglement challenges of large whales
existing at present are entanglement in rock lobster ropes and buoys on the
west and southwest coasts and entanglement in shark gillnets on the
KwaZulu-Natal coast.
In September last year (2005) scientists and divers from the department,
with officials from the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) and SA Police
Service have saved an entangled Southern Right whale. The eight metre whale was
entangled with seven large rock lobster buoys and ropes in the False Bay
area.
The buoys and ropes were removed by cutting the ropes with departmentally
designed and produced knives, specifically for such purposes. The operation
lasted for approximately three hours.
A whale disentanglement expert from the Centre for Conservation Studies in
the United States of America, Dr Bob Bowman, will be the main speaker at the
workshop and will also give volunteers practical instruction on the second
day.
Members of the media are invited to attend the practical training sessions
on 17 February 2006, Marine Research Aquarium, Department of Environmental
Affairs and Tourism, Sea Point, Cape Town at 08h30.
For more information contact:
JP Louw
Chief Director of Communications
Cell: 082 569 3340
Tel: (012) 310 3594/6
Issued by: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
15 February 2006
Source: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (http://www.environment.gov.za/)
