The young whale was seen off Southern California, struggling, its tail flukes dangerously entangled in rope.
The animal may have been injured for as long as half a year. After a week of tracking and near-misses, a crew from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration freed the juvenile humpback whale Friday. On July 13, a whale-watching boat encountered the rope-snarled animal and reported it to
. For the next week, crews from its large whale entanglement response network made near-daily excursions to find the injured whale, said Justin Viezbicke, the agency’s California marine mammal response stranding coordinator. On July 15, the team spotted the whale off Dana Point, but the weather turned bad before they could attempt to free it. The next day they found the animal in the same area, but nearby jet skiers accidentally scared it away before rescuers could get close enough to help.
boat traveled alongside the animal as it surfaced for air and dove back into the sea. The mammal was about 30 feet long, with rope from fishing equipment wrapped tightly around both tail flukes. “Being in the right place at the right time was very difficult,” Viezbicke said. “This whale was super skittish and wasn't comfortable with us being around it.” At last the crew got close enough to cut through the rope.
estimated that the mammal had been entangled in the fishing line for at least three to six months, causing “some serious damage” to the flukes, Viezbicke said. It also appeared to have a significant amount of whale lice, which is often an indicator of poor health. “We are hopeful that with the gear off it will make a full recovery,” he said. Instances of humpback whale entanglements with fishing gear have climbed sharply in the last decade, thanks to a chain of events sparked by warming seas.
typically receives 15 to 20 reports per year of whales trapped in fishing lines or other human-made debris in the ocean, Viezbicke said. Yet such reports are likely only a small percentage of total cases. “Unfortunately, most whale entanglements go undetected,” said Ashley Blacow-Draeger, Pacific policy and communications manager for Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Oceana.
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