Marine Mammal Center​ Helps Free Entangled Whale​ In Monterey Bay

MARIN COUNTY, CA — The Marine Mammal Center helped rescue a humpback whale this week in Monterey Bay, the Marin County-based organization announced Thursday.

The trained response team, which included several team members from the center in Sausalito, had tracked the whale for several days. The whale had become severely entangled in crab fishing gear and could not move, according to the Marine Mammal Center.

"It takes a true collaborative effort for a mission like this to succeed because there are so many moving pieces, such as weather conditions, distance from shore, and simply the ability to locate the entangled whale," said Julia O'Hern, the operations manager at the Marine Mammal Center's Moss Landing triage center.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife first reported the entangled whale around 11:15 a.m. Saturday, noting that the fishing line was wrapped multiple times around the whale's tail and had cut into its flesh.

A response team found the whale again Sunday, but inclement weather prevented the group from freeing the mammal. On Monday morning, a team including staff from the Marine Mammal Center and the U.S. Coast Guard located the whale once again and freed it by 1 p.m.

The whale had been trapped under three separate sets of Dungeness crab fishing gear, according to the Marine Mammal Center.

"It is believed the whale first became entangled and began dragging a crab pot that caught two additional pots and associated lines and buoys," a press release from the center said. "The weight of three combined sets of gear stopped the whale from swimming."

The whale is more likely to survive now that it's been freed from the fishing gear but its outlook remains uncertain, according to the Marine Mammal Center.

This was the third time an entangled whale has been freed in about a month along the West Coast. Another humpback whale was freed off Santa Cruz Island in mid-April and a gray whale was freed near Port Angeles, Washington, in late April.

"Our work responding to entangled whales is absolutely critical and it's going to take research, innovation and partnerships with fishermen, industries and agencies to solve the more complex problems that lead to entanglements in the first place," O'Hern said.

Report sick and injured marine mammals to the Marine Mammal Center at 415-289-SEAL (7325).