Race to save 70 ft blue whale that has become entangled in fishing nets off California coastline
- A blue whale has become entangled in a fishing line of coast of California
- A rescue team got close enough to cut some dangling rope
- But they were not able to reach the line that was wrapped around a flipper
- Same whale was believed to have been spotted at the weekend
- Teams will try again on Tuesday to free the creature
Rescuers will try again Tuesday to free a blue whale entangled in hundreds of feet of fishing line off the coast of Southern California.
The 70-foot-long mammal was caught in about 200 feet of rope from crab pots when it was spotted Monday off Dana Point.
Experts got close enough to cut away some dangling rope but they couldn't reach the line wound around a flipper, according to Michael Milstein of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Rescuers will try again Tuesday to free a blue whale entangled in hundreds of feet of fishing line off the coast of Southern California (pictured)
The 70-foot-long mammal was caught in about 200 feet of rope from crab pots when it was spotted Monday off Dana Point
A disentanglement team went out at about 12.30pm Monday to assess the whale
The operation was suspended at nightfall.
The whale was spotted on Sunday off San Diego but it was too far away for rescuers to reach. On Monday, it was only a few miles offshore.
It's the first blue whale entangled this year off California. The ocean giants rarely swim close to shore.
Captain Franks Brennan told ABC 7: 'It seemed really tired, it was able to get high enough out of the water to take a breath. It's just swimming really slow.'
The NOAA said they believed the whale was entangled in crab trap lines or shrimp gear, and stated it was unusual to have blue whales entangled in fishing equipment since they usually do not come close to the shoreline.
Captain Franks Brennan (pictured) told ABC 7: 'It seemed really tired, it was able to get high enough out of the water to take a breath. It's just swimming really slow.'
Brennan said that since the water was murky it was difficult to see how tightyly the line was wrapped around the whale.
A disentanglement team went out at about 12.30pm Monday to assess the whale.
NOAA believes it is the same blue whale that was spotted over the weekend about 30 miles off the coast of San Diego.
Rescuers tried to untangle from the line but its unclear how long it has been suffering.
Eric Yee, a marine naturalist told ABC: 'It's just like having a foreign object hanging of your body so it's going to be causing the whale a bit of stress obviously.'
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