A team of volunteers has rescued a 30ft humpback whale that was tangled in creel lines off the northern coast of Scotland.

The adult whale had become trapped in lines tied to a buoy at Loch Eriboll near Durness in Sutherland and was unable to break free.

A member of the public alerted the charity British Divers Marine Life Rescue Ltd (BDMLR), which sent a text out to volunteers on Friday night.

On Saturday morning a team from Thurso, Ullapool, Dundee, Glasgow and Nairn assembled and went out in a rubber dinghy to try and free the huge marine mammal.

Noel Hawkins, a Scottish Wildlife Trust worker and BDLMR area coordinator, was one of those who helped in the rescue.

The 45-year-old said the whale was initially thrashing around the water in a state of agitation but that it calmed when the rescue team approached.

Mr Hawkins said: "We found it pretty quickly as it was quite active in the water. It was attached to the seabed by the lines and was going about in the same spot.

"We have to try and get in where the ropes are, which is very difficult. We managed to grapple onto the ropes and also had a guy with a mask looking under the water see where the whale was tangled.

"It was stuck around the tail, around the fluke. There were also lines around its head and its mouth was wrapped up as well. The worst possible scenario is if we free it and it swims away with its mouth still tangled. It could have starved to death, so we had to clear all the ropes before freeing it.

"At this close you've got to be very careful and kill the engine, so it's all done by hand. We have to use a rubber-bottomed boat too as the whale often comes up beneath us, and we don't want to cause it any injuries.

"We use a long pole that we can put knives onto. They're V-shaped so they don't hurt the whales, and with that we try to cut the ropes.

"We managed to free its mouth, free its head and then worked our way back. We think we got everything cut."

After a four-hour rescue mission the whale swam away.

Mr Hawkins added: "When it was swimming away we could see rope falling away from it in the water so we are optimistic we got it all. We're all volunteers so that moment when it swims away is what it's all about.

"It's quite emotional. You just hope its going to make it. I think this one will be ok. It went off fast and enthusiastic so that's a good sign.

"You do train and try to concentrate, but there are times when it gets a bit hairy. The whale was initially thrashing about but it calmed down a bit when we arrived. It lifted its nose up to us when we initially started cutting so it'd be nice to think it was aware we were helping it."

The Scottish BDMLR team is the only rescue disentanglement team in Europe and it has been called out to many marine emergencies.

Mr Hawkins added that although humpback whales are fairly rare in Scotland, there was at least one other and possibly a second humpback swimming in Loch Eriboll when the whale became stranded.

A dead orca whale known as Lulu washed ashore on Tiree in the Inner Hebrides last week, leaving just eight orcas left in British waters.

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