Boaters Seek Struggling, Tangled Whale Off OC Coast

SAN CLEMENTE, CA — This week, rescue team members were unable to free a gray whale from what appears to be gillnet. The whale was first seen just outside of Dana Point Harbor in Southern California. The last known sighting of the whale was on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. Pacific Standard Time just north of Main Beach in Laguna Beach in about 1,800 feet of water. The whale was traveling north at a speed of about 2.5 knots.

Whale watching boats operated by Captain Dave's Dolphin & Whale Watching Safari first reported the entanglement to authorities while a sailboat named "Serendipity" stayed with the whale until the team arrived.

Members of the Orange County Whale Rescue Team consisting of Captain Dave Anderson, Tanner Rollins, and videographer Zain Hicks of Captain Dave's Dolphin & Whale Watching Safari, Billy Long of the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, and Justin Greenman of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), attempted to disentangle the whale from aboard a rigid hull inflatable catamaran, "Fast Cat".

The disentanglement team faced difficulties removing the lines from the whale. "It was a really hard to get the grapple to stay on the trailing line," Anderson said. "We were trying to hook it onto to something substantial. But it was tearing through the netting."

And an uncooperative gray whale did not make the efforts any easier. "The whale was keeping its tail deep in the water where we could not access it easily. It was moving too fast to use a pole or other things we could try."

Captain Dave Anderson is confident the whale can be found again with the public's help. "We feel certain the animal will be re-sighted at some point because it's staying on the migration path."

If the whale is spotted please do not approach or attempt to remove any of the line. Call 1-877-SOS-WHALe (1-877-767-9425) or hail the U. S. Coast Guard on VHF Channel 16. If possible, try to stay with the whale until a trained disentanglement team arrives or another boat can relieve you.

An estimated 308,000 dolphins and whales worldwide die every year because of fishing gear entanglement. That is nearly 1,000 dolphins and whales being killed every day! Captain Dave formed Orange County's first whale rescue group and continues to actively seek ways to help the growing problem of whale entanglement.

In 2016, 71 whales were reported entangled off the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington. That represents the highest annual total of reported whale entanglements off of the U.S. West Coast since NOAA Fisheries began record keeping in 1982.

For over twenty years Capt. Dave's Dolphin & Whale Watching Safari has offered year round, eco-friendly,dolphin and whale watching excursions aboard unique, high-tech catamarans with exclusive features including Eye-to-Eye Underwater Viewing Pods.

Photo and video courtesy Captain Dave's Whale Watching