Orbost Probus Club’s monthly guest speaker for May was Mike Irvine from the Parks Victoria Orbost branch.
Mike’s exciting talk was about the whale disentanglement offshore between Lakes Entrance and Marlo on June 28 and 29 2024.
An offshore helicopter pilot reported the entangled whale off loch sport on Monday, June 24, the whale was caught up in ropes wrapped around its belly, towing approximately 100 metres of rope and a mass of red fishing buoys.
A team of six-eight people comprising of Parks Victoria, water police and fisheries compiled a plan of rescue to release the ropes and buoys the whale was towing, a tracker was attached to follow the whale’s movements.
The whale was distressed after towing a tonne of weight and being entangled.
By Friday, June 28 it was offshore between Lakes Entrance and Marlo.
It was decided to attempt the rescue by cutting the ropes halfway between the whales tail and the buoys it was towing.
To add to the drama a five metre shark was spotted under the whale, suspected to be a white pointer.
It took two days, the Friday and Saturday, to cut through the four ropes, believed to come off a commercial fishing boat from Antarctica.
Mike’s talk together with a slide presentation was compelling and had members captivated.
He has agreed to visit again with the stunning photos of Beware Reef.
Members thanked Mike and all the team involved in this mighty rescue.
May has been a very interesting month for the Probus group with a day trip to Sale which included a historical boat trip on the Rubeena up the Port of Sale to the swinging bridge which is still operational. Members then had lunch at the library café and a guided tour of the Sale Art Gallery.
The guest speaker for the month of June will be Andrew French from Corringle Samphire Producer.
All are welcome to attend at the senior citizens rooms on June 19 at 10am.
