Its imposing silhouette, 7 to 10 meters long, slipped into the narrow gate of the Rance dam to the shouts of joy from dozens of onlookers. This Friday, the humpback whale which had been stuck since Thursday in the estuary of the river separating Saint-Malo from Dinard (Ille-et-Vilaine) managed to get out of itself.
“She passed, she passed! cried happily the onlookers who were on the dam of the Rance tidal power plant, when they saw the animal from the ocean side. “The young whale was lost to sight but was heading due north towards the great ocean. We wish her good luck, with a hint of concern, because she seemed to be emaciated, ”said the NGO Sea Shepherd.
The cetacean had been seen in the Rance on Thursday around 10 a.m. He had entered the river by taking advantage of the opening of a valve of the tidal power plant and was struggling to find his way back to the high seas despite the intervention of nature protection associations such as Al-Lark. On Thursday night, several reopenings of the dam had been organized to try to show him the way out.
Friday, thanks to the falling tide, it was decided to open all the valves of the tidal power plant, exceptionally shut down. This Friday, six valves 10 meters wide and 15 meters high were opened to let the animal pass. The tidal power plant operated by EDF had been exceptionally shut down.
If it happens that dolphins two or three meters long enter 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.