Kiwi diver frees stranded whale

A Kiwi diver was dragged behind a humpback whale as he tried to free it from a tangle of commercial fishing gear in Fijian waters.

Aucklander Sam Jupe, who is in Fiji on holiday, was heading to shore on a small charter fishing boat near Beachcomber Island yesterday when he and others in the party saw what he said looked like “a massive tree trunk in the water” about 10 metres below.

The 25-year-old told the NZ Herald that he discovered it was a 12 metre long humpback whale caught in commercial fishing gear, including ropes and a buoy.

He said it looked like the fishing gear had been there for a long time and the whale’s tail was “tied up like a ball” by the gear.

The boat stopped and Jupe, a dive instructor for DiveHQ Westhaven in central Auckland, decided to try to cut the whale loose.

But the only knife on board was a “blunt butter knife”.

After diving to reach the whale, Jupe found it could not move its tail.

He managed to cut the fishing buoy free.

As soon as he did, the whale started swimming.

Jupe jumped in the water four or five times and just tried to cut more and more of the line off.

While he did not remove all of the line, he said the whale seemed “more relaxed” and was able to swim away.

As a dive instructor, Jupe said he knew the risks of jumping in with the 12 metre long mammal.

He said he just thought that he can’t leave the whale there.

Jupe is in Fiji with a group of about 120 Kiwis as part of “Spring Break”, a five-day party organised by a New Zealand tourism company.


Story by: Vijay Narayan