A young humpback whale, trapped in shark nets off the Bluff on Wednesday, was released unhurt but its entanglement has upset activists who are calling for the R53 million-a-year nets to be removed.

The struggling whale, about 4m long, was spotted early yesterday by residents who first thought there were two whales snared.

“My husband, Peter, was up at about 5am when he spotted the struggling whale baby. At first we thought the mother was caught as well, but I guess she was trying to help him. It’s so sad to see these beautiful creatures in such distress,” said local, Carol Lamprecht.

Debbie Hargreaves, from the KZN Sharks Board, confirmed the board’s team had received a call from the public saying whales were entangled off Brighton Beach.

“The specialist whale release team from the board responded and arrived at the scene at about 6.45am.

“It was a relatively simple release and the whale soon joined another two humpback whales waiting in deeper water,” she said.

Marine activist, Mark Addison, who has researched the types and number of animals caught in the nets each year for the past 30 years, said nets were no longer required off the beaches because whaling, which attracted sharks, was no longer an industry. “That’s when they had the shark attacks. When whale boats were catching the animals offshore,” he said.

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