DANA POINT — A gray whale with its head stuck in a large wire frame was seen Wednesday near San Simeon and is expected to reach Monterey Bay on Thursday.
Boat captains in that area have been alerted to keep a lookout for the entangled whale.
The whale was seen at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday off Piedras Blancas near San Simeon, according to Alisa Schulman-Janiger, founder of the American Cetacean Society/LA Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project.
“It arrived (near San Simeon) with three other gray whales but was slower and left behind,” Schulman-Janiger reported. “It passed by very close to shore.”
The whale was first spotted on Saturday, two miles south of Dana Point Harbor, by Capt. Frank Brennan, of Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Whale Watching.
Brennan, who was on a whale-watching trip at the time, saw what appeared to be a metal frame around the animal’s head. There were also lines attached to the frame, he said.
He alerted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s marine mammal stranding network coordinator as well as another experienced whale rescuer, Dave Anderson.
“The whale was being evasive because there were so many boats around it,” Brennan said.
Brennan saw the whale a second time off Laguna Beach in about 120 feet of water. Anderson took over the tracking around 6 p.m. and saw the whale just outside Newport Beach Harbor at sunset. He did not deploy his tracking buoy because of the unusual way the whale’s head was caught in the trap.
“We felt very uncertain about what damage it would cause to the whale with this unusual entanglement,” Anderson said. “With darkness closing in, we thought it was best to document the last location and hope for the best tomorrow.”
Search efforts Sunday off Los Angeles County were hampered by dense fog, Viezbicke said. On Monday, the whale was off Goleta, in Santa Barbara County, officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
Although some reports described the gear on the whale’s head as a “crab trap,” Justin Viezbicke, NOAA’s California marine mammal stranding coordinator, said the device was something he’s not seen before.
“It’s very troubling,” Viezbicke said. “The tricky part for us is that it’s not just rope. If it really is all metal around the whale, it will be a formidable challenge to get it off. All our gear is used to cut rope.”
To Rodger Healy, a Capistrano Beach lobsterman, the wire frame looked industrial.
“It’s too big to be trap gear,” he said. “It has washers and knuckles on the frame, which trappers wouldn’t have because the trap wouldn’t sit flat on the frame. It looks like it could be a rack to suspend oysters or mussels.”
Fishing gear entanglements have been on the rise in the past three years, according to a report released this week by researchers at NOAA. The report found that there were 71 separate cases of entangled whales reported off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California in 2016.
It was the highest annual total for the West Coast of the United States since NOAA Fisheries started keeping records in 1982.
HOW TO HELP
If you are out on the water and see a whale in distress, call 1-877-SOS-WHALE. The National Marine Fisheries Service also asks that you note:
1. Location of the animal;
2. A detailed description of the color and gauge of rope
3. Location of gear on the whale
4. Color and size of buoys
5. Direction of the whale’s movement, including
whether it is solitary or with a group
6. Behavior of the whale, including whether it is
surfacing or diving, and the length of dive times
7. Species of whale
8. Size and condition of the whale.
They also ask that you take photos and videos of the entangled whale, which can provide valuable information.
