Fishermen together with beachgoers and environmentalists successfully freed a young but “butanding” (whaleshark) who got entangled in a fishing net Friday morning in San Juan, La Union.

Upon seeing it in their net at around 9AM, said ocean conservationist Carlos Tamayo, chief of the sea turtle conservation group CURMA, fishermen tried to free her immediately.

But failing, fishermen brought the butanding ashore and with the help of beachgoers succeeded in finally freeing it in the ocean,Tamayo said.

The butanding, an endangered specie, Tamayo smiled, “eventually got to swim back into its ocean— its home.”

Quick response teams from the municipal environment office, policemen and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) also came to assist and supervise, Tamayo, who and family lives just at the San Juan shoreline where an olive ridley turtle hatchery was established by Curma a decade ago.