A third tangled whale is spotted off O.C. coast
Boaters are urged to keep an eye out for the animal, which appears to be caught in metal fishing gear.
Boaters are urged to look out for the animal, which appears to be caught in metal fishing gear.
Rescuers are searching for a gray whale that became caught in a metal fishing frame as it swam north off the coast of Southern California, according to a conservation group.
The tangled mammal was spotted about 3:30 p.m. Saturday outside Dana Point Harbor, said the Los Angeles chapter of the American Cetacean Society. The whale’s head appeared to be lodged in metal fishing gear.
“This unusual entanglement includes large metal gear that likely goes through its mouth,” the group wrote in a Facebook post.
Hours after being spotted off Dana Point Harbor, the whale was seen swimming with another whale about a mile off Newport Harbor, the conservation group said on Facebook.
The group asked boaters to look out for the whale, take photographs and note any developments. Boaters should not approach or attempt to disentangle the whale, it said.
“It may still be in the Santa Monica Channel, or may have already passed [Point Dume] on its way toward Oxnard,” the organization wrote in the post.
Anyone with details about the whale is urged to call the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s entanglement reporting hotline at (877) 767-9425.
Rescuers are hoping to develop a plan to approach the whale and remove the metal framing, said Justin Viezbicke, stranding coordinator for NOAA Fisheries’ California Stranding Network.
Viezbicke said rescuers are trying to determine if the framing belongs to a fishery. Rescuers are hoping to identify any weak points in the metal, so that when they approach the whale, they can work quickly to remove the framing from its head, he said.
“It’s going to be very problematic in getting the time and space,” he said.
The mammal is the third tangled whale spotted off the coast of Southern California in the last two weeks, according to the American Cetacean Society.
The first tangled whale was spotted March 19 off Dana Point, the group said. The mammal’s fin appeared to be wrapped in a fishing net with small black floats.
Last week, a gray whale tangled in pink netting was seen about a mile off the Dana Point Headlands Conservation Area, the group said.
In 2016, 71 cases of entangled whales were reported off the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington, as well as in neighboring countries with gear from U.S. fisheries, according to NOAA Fisheries. This is the highest annual total for the West Coast since the organization started keeping records in 1982.