A rescue team will wait until after July 8 to attempt to free a humpback whale ensnared in fishing gear that has been spotted off the New Jersey coastline, officials say.
The whale was spotted a few miles offshore of Sandy Hook Bay around 2 p.m. Saturday. It is so entangled that a team of trained rescuers are being called in to help it, Jennifer Goebel, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said.
However, holiday boat traffic may impede the team's efforts and increase the risk of injury to the whale, the team and the public, so NOAA officials decided to wait almost a week before attempting the rescue mission.
"There appears to be a line around its rostrum, which is its head, (near) the blowhole," Goebel said.
Photos of the whale show a red and black buoy attached to the rope, and Gobel said it had gear caught in its mouth as well. Although officials determined this whale is not in immediate danger, entanglements can result in death, cause swimming and eating challenges and reduce the likelihood of it surviving long enough to reproduce, according to NOAA.
But the unpredictable creatures, which can weigh up to 30 metric tons, or over 44,000 pounds, are challenging for even experts to help, Goebel explained. Teams must keep a comfortable distance so the whale won't react in surprise and tip the boat while staying close enough to extend poles attached to specialized knives and cut the entangled gear.
Last year, a Canadian member of the Campobello Whale Rescue Team was struck and killed moments after a whale was freed in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
"They got the whale totally disentangled, and then some kind of freak thing happened and the whale made a big flip," a Campobello team member told The Canadian Press.
Gobel said that of the 76 large whale entanglements confirmed nationwide in 2017, the Large Whale Entanglement Response Network was able to respond to 50 cases and fully- or partially-disentangle 25 animals.
The entangled humpback whale in the Raritan Bay is the same one that was spotted in October 2017. The following month, crews were able to cut part of the line, but when they searched for it again several times in December, they were unable to locate it.
If you see an entangled whale, reduce your speed, stay 100 yards away and report the sighting to the U.S. Coast Guard or NOAA.
Saturday, when the whale was spotted near the shore, the U.S. Coast Guard and N.J. State Police created a safety zone around the whale, but within half an hour the whale submerged and could not be relocated again, Ann Marie Gorden, a Coast Guard spokeswoman, said.
In some cases, whale-chasers attach tracking devices to the gear entangled whales drag around in order to keep a close eye on them and look for chances to attempt another rescue mission.
That doesn't seem to be the case, however, for this whale as officials are asking the public report sightings to them.
Goebel said humpback whales are coastal, often following the small fish they feed on, so it is not out of the ordinary for a humpback to visit Raritan Bay.
If you do spot a whale, keep a distance of at least 100 yards, reduce your speed before you are half a mile away and never approach it head-on, NOAA officials said. Sightings should be reported to the U.S. Coast Guard on VHF 16 or the NOAA hotline at 866-755-6622.
Cassidy Grom may be reached at cgrom@njadvancemedia.com Follow her at @cassidygrom
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