Rescuers find third entangled whale in two weeks off California coast

For the second straight week, whales have been spotted entangled in commercial fishing gear off the coast of California — from Del Norte County all the way down to the San Diego region, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday.

Rescue teams on Sunday cut loose a juvenile humpback whale caught in fishing lines off the coast of the San Onofre power plant. The lines are believed to be from Dungeness crab commercial gear from Washington state.

The 25-foot whale was first spotted on Saturday morning along the coast of Rancho Palos Verdes.

NOAA officials caught up with the whale about four miles off the coast in northern San Diego County, where they attached flotation devices to the animal to keep it from swimming away or diving.

The team then approached the whale in an inflatable boat and used “flying” knives attached to long poles to slice through most of the fishing gear.

“In this case, we had to slow the whale down and attach our large floats to help keep the whale at the surface and access it,” said Justin Viezbicke, who led the rescue and works as marine mammal stranding coordinator for NOAA.

The humpback whale was last seen continuing to head south with a fishing line still attached to the right side of its mouth.

The rescue efforts involved NOAA, SeaWorld San Diego, the Los Angeles-based group Marine Animal Rescue and the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach.

Earlier this month, a veteran fisherman was killed by a North Atlantic right whale after he helped to free the marine mammal off the coast of New Brunswick in Canada.

“These animals are very large and very dangerous,” Viezbicke said. “There’s potential for anything.”

A week ago, another entangled whale was spotted off coast of Point Loma. NOAA officials are still trying to track down that animal.

Still another whale was rescued two weeks ago off the coast of Crescent City, just south of the California-Oregon border.

About 10 entangled humpback whales have been confirmed so far this year.

Last year, 71 whales were reported entangled off the West Coast, marking the highest number of such reports since 1982, when NOAA started keeping records.

Officials believe a steady rise in spottings of entangled whales in recent years is due to heightened awareness about the issue — and that reporting still falls short of the total number of whales that become ensnared each year.

Whales and sea turtles can slowly die after becoming tangled up in fishing gear, often dragging traps and buoys for miles over weeks or even months.

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