Rescue

The Sea World Rescue Team are on call 24 hours every day, 365 days a year should a marine animal need rescuing. Since Sea World’s opening the Rescue Team have attended many hundreds of strandings and entanglements of dolphins, whales, birds and sea snakes, pioneering new rescue techniques and equipment.

Injured animals are brought to Sea World and given veterinary care with the ultimate aim of returning these animals back to the wild. Every time Sea World is involved in a rescue, an enormous contribution is made to public awareness and scientific knowledge.

At Sea World almost 75% of sea turtle admissions are either reported by or brought into us directly from members of the public. For this reason, Sea World, together with a few other key organisations in South East Queensland have put together a basic first aid guide to assist should you find a sick or injured sea turtle.

Download Turtle Guide

Help the Sea World Foundation understand, protect and support the marine environment for future generations. We would greatly appreciate any donation or support you would be able to make to help us continue this vital work in supporting marine conservation.

Donations $2 and over are tax deductible.

Eros – Green Sea Turtle

Eros – Green Sea Turtle

The Sea World Foundation team was joined by Sheppard to return Eros, a rehabilitated Green Turtle to Moreton Bay. Sadly Eros came into care after being entangled in a crab pot and with significant injuries which required a full flipper amputation.Following months of rehabilitation in our specially designed facilities, Eros gained the body condition and swimming ability and was ready to for his rockstar return with the help of Sheppard.

Grey Nurse Shark – Flat Rock

Grey Nurse Shark – Flat Rock

In a joint operation, the Sea World Foundation, Biopixel Oceans Foundation and Queensland National Parks and Partnerships teams rescued a male grey nurse shark with a rope tightly entangled in front of its tail fin off Flat Rock, North Stradbroke Island.

Humpback Whale – Eden, Southern NSW

Humpback Whale – Eden, Southern NSW

In September, while on a research trip with Griffith University in Eden (Southern New South Wales), the Sea World Foundation team conducted an intricate rescue operation to save a humpback whale which was entangled with rope and towing a Waverider buoy in the Tasman Sea.

Looseal – Long Nosed Fur Seal

Looseal – Long Nosed Fur Seal

The Sea World Foundation team relocated a long-nosed fur seal, affectionately named Looseal by the Gold Coast community, to the Solitary Islands off Coffs Harbour. Looseal was rescued after finding his way into the Gold Coast Broadwater and mis-adventuring to the most southern section of the canal system in Burleigh Waters, an area is well outside the geographic range for the species. Following a short stint in the dedicated seal rehabilitation area, Looseal was relocated, along with another long-nosed fur seal to the Solitary Islands.

Humpback Whale Disentanglement

Humpback Whale Disentanglement

The Sea World Foundation team conducted a delicate rescue operation of a humpback whale that was towing an anchor and rope off the Gold Coast Seaway. In a challenging operation, with the 10metre humpback still full of energy and swimming at a pace of 8-10knots, the highly trained Sea World Foundation team managed to grapple a large buoy onto the trailing rope which put enough pressure to remove the anchor and rope from the whale’s tail fluke before leaving the whale to continue its migration.

Australasian Gannet

Australasian Gannet

After being rescued due to the result of fishing line and equipment entanglement, the Sea World Foundation team performed a delicate operation to remove the large fishing lure from Australasian Gannet. Following the surgery, the Gannet spent a short stint in rehabilitation before being returned off the Gold Coast Seaway. While this was a happy outcome, sadly, we see large numbers of marine birds and turtles coming into our care due to human impacts such as fishing line entanglement, and encourage people to discard of all their rubbish responsibly.

Humpback Whale

Humpback Whale

Joining the Queensland Fisheries MART agencies, the Sea World Foundation team conducted a precarious rescue operation to successfully disentangle a 10-metre adult Humpback whale from the shark control program net at Mermaid Beach this morning. The rescue teams worked collaboratively to successfully disentangle the whale from two vessels using specialised cutting equipment to remove all the netting from the whale’s head and pectoral fins in around an hour.

Dolphin Entanglement

Dolphin Entanglement

In one of the largest operations in recent history, the Sea World Foundation team in conjunction with Queensland Environment, rescued a dolphin which was heavily entangled in fishing line. The operation involved 27 specialised staff and seven vessels with the teams managing to remove the entanglement on-site, but closer inspection identified severe damage and the dolphin was brought to Sea World for surgery to remove a section of dorsal fin to minimise the risk of re-entanglement in the future. Following a rehabilitation stint, the dolphin was successfully returned to the Moreton Bay region.

Rissos Dolphin

Rissos Dolphin

The Sea World Foundation team responded to a Rissos dolphin which stranded on a beach in northern NSW. Despite the best efforts of our specialist team, involving two days of 24/7 care, sadly the dolphin passed away. Through rescue operations like this, the Sea World Foundation contributes to the scientific community by providing knowledge and information which will create a better understanding of the marine environment and how we can conserve it.

Comet – Tangalooma Island Dolphin

Comet – Tangalooma Island Dolphin

The Sea World Foundation team conducted an intricate rescue operation to successfully remove a fishing line entanglement from Comet, a young bottlenose dolphin at Tangalooma Island Resort on Sunday 8 January. Comet is a regular animal to the Tangalooma wild dolphin feeding program and their team had spotted the four-year old male with the fishing line entangled around his fluke during the feed on Saturday 7 January. All of the entanglement from Comet’s fluke was removed and thankfully there was only superficial damage to his fluke.

Skip – Juvenile Fur Seal

Skip – Juvenile Fur Seal

The Sea World team rescued this adorable juvenile fur seal after it was found stranded at Inskip Point with a cookie-cutter shark bite, severely underweight and outside his normal geographic range. The young seal was affectionally named Skip and spent three-months rehabilitating at Sea World before being healthy enough for a coordinated release with a high-tech satellite tracker in Sydney Harbour. Data collected has shown Skip has travelled more than 100 km within the first 24 hours of being released and is currently swimming south of Tasmania.

Partridge – Hawksbill Turtle

Partridge – Hawksbill Turtle

Partridge is an endangered Hawksbill Turtle who came into care after being rescued following ingesting a fishing hook and line. The expert Sea World vet team were able to successfully remove the fishing hook and ingestion in a delicate operating conducted at the Sea World Marine Hospital. Following a short rehabilitation stint on-site at Sea World, Partridge released off Mermaid Beach on the Gold Coast. Fishing debris is one of the major issues facing local sea turtles and seabirds, so we encourage people to dispose of their rubbish correctly.

Loggerhead Hatchlings – Palm Beach

Loggerhead Hatchlings – Palm Beach

During turtle hatchling season, a group of endangered Loggerhead turtle hatchlings came into our care after being found weak, disoriented and in cold-shock after emerging from a nest in Palm Beach. After a period of rest and recuperation, our team released these endangered hatchlings out into the deeper waters to give them the best chance at continuing their journey. Thanks to the Gold Coast Turtle Watch and Watergum volunteers who assisted with the rescue effort.

Humpback Whale – Towing Equipment

Humpback Whale – Towing Equipment

In June 2022, the Sea World Rescue team attended to their first humpback whale in trouble during the annual migration period, with a sub-adult animal reported by a local whale watching operation to be towing buoys and ropes, 2 nautical miles off Coolangatta. In a delicate rescue operation, our team prepared our rescue boat and the team managed to find the entangled whale, which was still mobile. The team managed to successfully remove all of the rope and buoys using specialised cutting equipment.

False Killer Whale – Kingscliffe

False Killer Whale – Kingscliffe

In March 2022, a juvenile false killer whale stranded in Kingscliffe in Northern NSW. After consultation with New South Wales National Parks & Wildlife, the decision was made to bring the False Killer Whale back to Sea World where it could receive rehabilitation and veterinary care from our expert veterinary and marine mammal team. Sadly after almost 4 months of receiving around the clock care and rehabilitation from our expert team, the False Killer Whale was not able to overcome the ongoing health issues and passed away.

Long-Nosed Fur Seal Pup

Long-Nosed Fur Seal Pup

This long-nosed fur seal pup was found stranded on Wave Break Island underweight and outside her normal geographical range. After three months of receiving expert care and rehabilitating in our specialised vet centre at Sea World, the young pup was ready for release. With border and travel restrictions, a coordinated effort including plane and boat transports was developed, to release the pup to Sydney Harbour which is in the species geographical range.

Hawksbill Turtle

Hawksbill Turtle

Lucy the juvenile Hawksbill Turtle spent five weeks recovering and rehabilitating at Sea World after being found in poor health off Kirra Reef by a local diver Rick. At Sea World, she underwent a rehabilitation regime to get her swimming and weight condition back to a healthy position ready for release back at Kirra Reef.

Four Turtles – Moreton Bay

Four Turtles – Moreton Bay

October was a busy month for the Sea World team with record turtle admissions from all along the East Coast with individuals being rescued after being found struggling with injuries from boat strikes, fishing gear entanglement and floating syndrome. The Sea World team were able to rehabilitate and release four of the rescued turtles back to Moreton Bay.

Humpback Whale Calf

Humpback Whale Calf

In a delicate rescue operation, the Sea World and Boating and Fisheries Team managed to successfully remove a Humpback whale calf from the shark control netting at Coolangatta. It was a challenging operation with rough sea conditions and the mother remaining close by, however the team were able to remove all the netting, and the pod swam off to continue its migration.

Dolphin Stranding – Jumpinpin

Dolphin Stranding – Jumpinpin

The Sea World team were alerted to a dolphin stranded on a sandbank at Jumpinpin and with the rescue boats already activated for a whale disentanglement operation, the Sea World Helicopters team assisted in transporting our marine mammal specialists to the remote location to assist the dolphin back into the water with the help of members of the public.

Whale Entanglement – FAD

Whale Entanglement – FAD

The Sea World Rescue team managed to successfully disentangle this unlucky Humpback Whale who was spotted towing a Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) off Coolangatta Beach by a member of the public. The team used their specialist knives to remove the rope and the whale swam off freely to continue on its annual migration.

Pelican – Shark bite

Pelican – Shark bite

This was one of the more interesting rescue operations for our team with this adult male pelican coming into care after suffering a shark bite wound to its pouch. The team were able to delicately stitch up the pouch and rehabilitate him at the Sea World vet centre before releasing back to the Gold Coast Broadwater.

Sea Snakes

Sea Snakes

The Sea World Rescue team released three baby Olive Head Sea Snakes to a reef off the Gold Coast Seaway after they spent just over a week rehabilitating at the marine park. The snakelits resided in a specially-designed tank at Shark Bay where they strengthened up for release.

Whale Rescue

Whale Rescue

In a multi-day rescue operation, the Sea World team managed to free a sub-adult Humpback Whale that was entangled in fishing gear. The whale was first spotted towing ropes and floats off the northern NSW coast and on the third day of rescue efforts, the team managed to successfully remove all of the entanglement.

The Sea World Rescue Team is on call 24/7

The Sea World Rescue Team's pioneering work in marine animal rescues has resulted in outstanding success in rehabilitating and saving many sick, injured and stranded animals in the wild.

Call 07 5588 2222 (9:00am to 5:00pm) or 07 5588 2177 (After Hours).