A 12-METER-LONG whale rescued by fishermen and divers in the Dapeng sea area Sunday after it was trapped in fishing nets was still in danger at press time yesterday.

    Experts say the whale, weighing about 3 tons, was a sperm whale, which has been listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature since 2012.

    Officers with the Dapeng fishery administrative department headed to the sea area near Daya Bay nuclear power plant after they received a call from an on-duty officer, who said a sperm whale was found trapped in fishing nets.

    The wind was strong and the sea was heaving with big waves when the officers arrived. The water temperature was 16 degrees Celsius and the visibility only reached 1 to 2 meters, which made it difficult for them to rescue the whale.

    The officers had to turn to local fishermen and divers for help. During the three-hour rescue effort, fishermen cut the nets above the whale’s back and divers cut the nets beneath it.

    The officers with Daya Bay fishery administrative department and whale experts from Sun Yat-sen University and Guangdong Ocean University were trying to lead the whale back into the deep sea with sonar devices yesterday. But the whale stayed in the shallow sea, so the experts believed there might be something wrong with its sonar system.

    (Zhang Yang)