A rescue mission was mounted yesterday after a whale was discovered tangled in fishing nets close to the South Shore.

Marine Police joined forces with Aquarium staff and members of the public after the Humpbacked whale was spotted in trouble inside the reefs at Warwick Long Bay.

The 30ft mammal was caught in nylon fishing nets connected to buoys which were wrapped around its body and fin -- and rescuers feared it may have died if it had not been found. During a two-hour operation, divers battled to cut the whale free and then led it to safety through the reefs, where the young mammal swam out to the ocean.

P.c. Paul Watson of the Marine Section dived into the water along with Aquarium staff Derek Exel, Billy Mitchell and Chris Flook.

P.c. Watson said the rescue was a close call as the whale was getting excited and could easily have suffered in the shallow water.

It was probably the first time in ten years one had come so close to the shore, and such incidents usually end in tragedy, he said. "It was a good result,'' said P.c. Watson. "There were several lines around the whale, causing it a lot of problems because it had to dive down dragging the buoys down with it.

"We made many attempts to cut the lines with divers but the air bubbles spooked it. We used free divers and eventually we managed it, then the rest of line came free.

"It was getting very agitated and wouldn't let anyone near it. At one point it was panicking and swam over the top of a coral reef.

Whale freed after two-hour rescue "When it was free we managed to herd it out to open sea. Without some kind of help I don't know what would have happened to it.'' The incident began at 1.20 p.m. when Harbour Radio received a call from a man who had been out kayaking and spotted the whale in distress.

Rescuers were on the scene shortly after to help the Humpback, which Aquarium Curator Jack Ward believed had become disorientated and found its way inside the reefs.

And he said it was difficult to tell if it had become entangled in the fishing gear in Bermuda's waters. "The buoys that were attached to it had been in the ocean for a while and they had been around the whale for a while also,'' he said.

Humpbacked whales normally pass by Bermuda between March and April, on their way from wintering in the Caribbean to the fertile fishing grounds in the North Atlantic, and as far as Greenland.

Mr. Ward said the youngster had probably become lost, adding that he hoped it would not do what some whales do and try to beach itself after being rescued.