Ruby Stafford, a divemaster at Eden Rock Diving Center, has recently encountered several sea creatures in need on her dives around Cayman.
First she helped save a loggerhead turtle that got stuck on a mooring line, and then on 23 April she came across another sea creature in trouble, and immediately swung into action to try to help out.
This time, Ruby came across two spotted eagle rays. As she swam closer, she noticed that one of the rays was acting strangely, bumping its mouth into the sand.
“I recognised it as one of the regulars that we quite often see on the Eden Rock reef,” explained Stafford, who added, “When I approached the eagle ray, I saw it had a hook in its mouth and about 70 feet of fishing line was trailing behind it.”
Stafford knew she had to do something to help.
She said she got as close as possible and when the ray swam past her, she managed to grab hold of the fishing line and used her scuba-diving knife to cut away most of the trailing line, reducing the chance that the line and the eagle ray would get tangled up in the coral.
Eagle rays are listed as a globally threatened species, but they are seen quite often in the waters of the Cayman Islands. Sometimes they even leap several feet out of the water.
The Department of Environment said that if the hook is not made of stainless steel, it will most likely rust away in a couple of months and the eagle ray should be fine.