WARSAW: Teams of sea rescuers and wildlife experts on Wednesday successfully freed a whale that got caught in fishing nets near a popular Baltic Sea resort in Poland.
It took about an hour for the rescuers to cut and remove the nets and allow the whale to swim into the open sea, close to the popular summer resort and beach in Miedzyzdroje, where the stranded animal was spotted in the morning.
Konrad Wrzecionkowski from WWF Poland, a conservation organization, said the whale made a “great and positive impression” on him but the action was potentially dangerous for the rescuers and was very stressful.
“You have to approach these animals with a lot of respect and we knew that if it chose to wave its tail, we would all find ourselves in the water,” Wrzecionkowski told The Associated Press.
“The situation was very stressful for him, but with time, when the nets were getting looser, he seemed to understand that we were trying to help him and the untangling became easier. And then he swam off into the sea,” Wrzecionkowski said.
He said the boat he was in was some 3 meters (10 feet) long and the animal was at least twice as long. The rescuers used boathooks on long poles, rather than knives, to loosen and remove the nets, rather than cutting them with knives, in order to avoid harming the animal.
Whales normally live in the open waters of oceans, but sometimes individual animals swim from the Atlantic Ocean into the Baltic Sea through the Danish Straits.
The rescuers hope the whale will find its way back to the Atlantic because the Baltic is not a suitable environment for whales.
A whale caught in fishing nets has been freed off Poland’s Baltic coast
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A whale caught in fishing nets has been freed off Poland’s Baltic coast
- It took about an hour for the rescuers to cut and remove the nets and allow the whale to swim into the open
- The rescuers used boathooks on long poles, rather than knives, to loosen and remove the nets
6 planets will parade across the night sky at the end of February
NEW YORK: Six planets are linking up in the sky at the end of February, and most will be visible to the naked eye.
It’s what’s known as a planetary parade, which happens when multiple planets appear to line up in the sky at once. The planets aren’t in a straight line, but are close together on one side of the sun.
Skygazers can usually spot two or three planets after sunset, according to NASA. Hangouts of four or five that can be glimpsed with the naked eye are less common and occur every few years. Last year featured lineups of six and all seven planets.
When will they be visible?
On Saturday, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn will be visible to the naked eye if clear skies allow. Uranus and Neptune can only be spotted with binoculars and telescopes.
What time is optimal for viewing?
Go outside about an hour after sunset and venture away from tall buildings and trees that will block the view. Look to the western sky and spot Mercury, Venus and Saturn close to the horizon. Jupiter will be higher up, along with Uranus and Neptune.
How to know if you’ve spied a member of the parade?
“If it’s twinkling, it’s a star. If it is not twinkling, it’s a planet,” said planetary scientist Sara Mazrouei with Humber Polytechnic in Canada.
The parade should be visible over the weekend and in the days after. Eventually, Mercury will bow out and dip below the horizon.
At least one bright planet is visible on most nights, according to NASA.
Glimpsing many in the sky at once is a fun way to connect with astronomers of centuries’ past, said planetary scientist Emily Elizondo with Michigan State University.
Ancient astronomers used to make sense of the universe “just by looking up at the stars and the planets,” Elizondo said, “which is something that we can do today.”
