May 15, 2014 — Rescuers have freed a humpback whale that had been entangled in a crab pot line for more than two weeks.
Crews on Wednesday caught up with the whale off the coast of Santa Barbara, where it was twisted in the remnants of the line. It was first spotted in the Monterey Bay on April 27.
Soon after whale was reported, rescuers with the Whale Entanglement Team, a trained volunteer squad affiliated with the National Marine Fisheries Service, responded and attached a telemetry device to the lines so they could track the whale, said Peggy Stap, director of Marine Life Studies, a nonprofit whale advocacy and research organization based in Monterey.
The team was able to return the next day and remove the pot and 300 yards of line. But as swells climbed to eight to 10 feet, crews were forced to abandon efforts, she said.
Team members continued watching the whale and took advantage of relatively calm seas Wednesday, Stap said. The early morning operation took about an hour and a half. The whale was wounded but is expected to survive, Stap said.
It was the second recently entangled whale. The other, also a humpback, was spotted May 1. But rescuers were unable to find it, and it is believed to have drowned.