When he was found on Terschelling last month, Gijs had an ugly and deep cut in his neck, made by a piece of fishnet. However, he made a quick recovery in the SRRC and was ready to be released from the Noordvaarder on Terschelling on Friday, November 7th.
Seals, entangled in fishnets floating around in the sea, are regularly brought in to the SRRC. A drifting piece of fishnet can cause serious injury to a seal. The net which had caused the wound in Gijs’ neck had cut right down to the bone. He must have been swimming around wounded for weeks. Drift nets pose a serious threat to seals and other marine animals. In order to illustrate the problem, we have collected a pile of driftnets about 10 meters in height. This mountain is only a fraction of what is floating around in the sea. The SRRC is, therefore, working closely with the fishermen to limit the amount of driftnets as much as possible.
The photos of the release were made by Fokje Ottens, student of the Amsterdam Photo Academy.
11-12-2008 Source: SRRC Lenie 't Hart
