A humpback whale 7 to 10 meters long which had been stuck since Thursday morning in the Rance estuary (Ille-et-Vilaine) succeeded on Friday February 10 in crossing the dam separating the river from the sea, journalists noted. from AFP.
“
She passed, she passed!
cried happily several dozen onlookers who were on the dam of the Rance tidal power plant, when they saw the animal from the ocean side.
The cetacean struggled to find its way
The whale now seemed to be heading out to sea.
The cetacean had been seen in the Rance on Thursday around 10:00 a.m.
He had entered the river by taking advantage of the opening of a gate of the tidal power plant and was struggling to find his way back to the high seas despite the intervention of nature protection associations and several reopenings of the dam during the Thursday day.
Friday, thanks to the falling tide, it was decided to open all the valves of the tidal power plant, exceptionally shut down.
"
The main problem is the difference in level between the Rance and the sea. So since this morning (Friday) 9:00 a.m., we have opened wide all the floodgates of the tidal power plant
", six in total each measuring 10 meters in wide for 15 m high, so that the animal can go back where it came from, explained to AFP Thierry Buanic, president of the naturalist association Al Lark which coordinates the operation.
Read alsoThe genetic secrets of the unequaled gigantism of whales
“
The absolute priority is to get the whale out of the estuary
,” he stressed.
"
We have completely shut down the plant since yesterday (Thursday) 11 a.m. and we are putting in place exceptional measures to adapt the operation and allow the whale to go back to sea as quickly as possible (...) All the valves are open, the lock as well
,” the director of the tidal power plant, Jean-Marie Loaec, told AFP.
The Rance tidal power plant “
produces 12% of the electricity in Brittany, it is a significant production but since yesterday, the priority is the passage of the whale
”, he estimated.
If it happens that dolphins 2 or 3 meters long engage in the river, it is on the other hand the first time that a humpback whale has strayed there since the commissioning of the tidal power plant in 1966.
