34 Seals Rescued In One Day!

Pelican Point, on the outside. We've seen a young seal, I don't think it's a pup, maybe a juvenile, with a very big ball of snoek line wrapped around it. Denzel and I are crawling in. Tony has got another target on the other side, possibly rope, possibly snoek line as well. He's going in, so we just need to coordinate to start running at the same time. Denzil, I got him, I got him. Keep going, keep going. Oh, it's tight, very tight, but fresh luckily, it's not cutting. Your day is getting better! That's it, quick and simple. Off you go. Why is his neck so small compared to the rest? Oh, it's cutting. I didn't see it cutting though. That was a rope, a couple of ropes. Some sort of nylon rope assembly with some paracord, very tight, but luckily still fresh, not doing damage. Rope. Oh, it's tight! It is so tight! I think there's more. That expanded already! He came out of there like a popped balloon! Pelican Point, the cross group. We've seen two targets at the back of the group. Tony's crawling in from behind, Denzil and I are coming from the front in case he doesn't get them. Here, big cut, maybe recapture. No, there are two, two, two! I see one, I see one. Okay, I got him! Here, Denzil! Right here, right here. That's a lot of line. I think the zip got bitten by a seal or something. We just did three rescues, and now, we're going blind in this group. Let's go now. Push, push, push, Denzil! That's a killer. No stretch obviously. Oh, you must be sweating in there! Not too tight at least. Oh, it's around the flipper. That way, perfect. Wednesday afternoon, just before lunch at the hotspot. It's low tide. We're going in with eight nets between the three of us, we're expecting big things from this group. With the weather, we haven't been able to come here for a week. This place has just been so bad for entanglements, so we're expecting to get a few. Okay, in you go! There's one with a cut, but I think it's a recapture here. There's a strap in front of him! You can have it here. Tiny strap. Not cutting, so you can pull. I think there's more than that. Not sure. Yeah, a lot more. That's the full spool again. Can we break it by hand? No. Okay, you can go to the next. Plastic bag. You're good, you're good, you're good. Horrible. Off you go! Other way! He's deep. You'll see it, big ball. We just finished a run with six rescues in one, we're just catching our breath, getting ready for the next run. Recapture. Hello, I didn't see you. You go, you go! Come on, in you go. Take that! Just here, just here. White strap coming down. Here's one, Naude! Snoek line, Tony! Okay, you go! You might be clean, huh? I think you are clean. You are, here you go! Congrats! It's very tight, hook. Other side. Here. Third one of these today. Freaking snoek line season. Yeah, it is snoek line season again. There are two here as well. Rope. I think this is the plastic that is entanglement, no? You have two entanglements, there's plastic somewhere. Yeah, see? I think it's two entanglements. You had no chance, baby. Try to pull it, Naude. Oh, it is cutting, shoot. It think it's plastic, no? I don't remember anything. There's some recreational line in there. It's around his flipper here. Get his flipper out. It might be twisted up in the net, I think. He's on his belly, on his back sorry. Number 10! Pelican Point, we've just got six in a row, then 10 at the hotspot group. We've just all shaken off our jackets and things. There's one more group around the corner here, we're going to go through them while we're still at it. That puts us now on twenty-four for the day, which is already our biggest day at Pelican Point, and I'm sure it's going to still go up a bit now. Come on, get out of the net! Off you go, angry! Can you roll it? You're going to be just fine. Wait. Okay, unroll it. What was that? Green rope. We're soaked, the nets are wet, we just caught twenty-seven seals in the last four runs. It's been the heaviest day of the year so far and by far the biggest day at Pelican Point ever. And this is only after about an hour of catching seals so far. I get the one with the black, Denzil. Here? No, here. Oh, go for that one! On the other side! Oh, perfect, thank you! This one! There's one here. Blue rope. That was a really good move. Gillnet or maybe recreational line, I don't know. You go. No, you leave me! What is this? You're safe now. This is baby fur. This is all east-weather rubbish. I think it's plastic. I have no freaking clue. You guys are two? No, it's not possible, why are you guys two? Why do we have two? This one is clean, right? There are two in this net, one is clean, huh? Sorry. These damn straps. Oh, okay, that was good! Seven. That takes it up to thirty-four for one morning so far. Tony, thirty-four. Is it? I never thought we would break this record. No. And that's thirty-four in an hour of rescues. Every year, millions of marine animals are debilitated, mutilated and killed by marine litter.