Rescue team responds to entangled whale near Dana Point Harbor
A rescue team tried for more than four hours to cut gill net and line wrapped around the tail of a young gray whale off of Dana Point Harbor, but work still needs to be done to clear the gray whale from harm.
The 20-foot entangled whale was spotted Saturday afternoon, the second sighting in a week’s span off the Orange County coastline.
The pink-colored monofilament gill net was tangled with black rope. The rescue team was able to cut the black line, but the gill net was wrapped so many times it was too difficult to cut, said Justin Greenman, assistant stranding coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Stranding Network.
“It actually broke our knife when we tried to cut it,” Greenman said.
The entanglement illustrates the persistent problem with gill nets, he said.
“It’s very frustrating to not be able to do everything you can, even when you have the right tools and the right people,” he said. “Not being able to get everything off when you want it to.”
Rescue teams part of NOAA’s Stranding Network, including local whale watching captains, Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach and others from Sea World in San Diego joined the effort, along with help from the Coast Guard and California Fish and Wildlife, Greenman said.
The whale looks to be different than the entangled juvenile whale from last Sunday, April 14, spotted off of Laguna Beach and headed northbound until whale watching charter operators lost sight of it at nightfall, Greenman said.
“That one looked like a lot better condition than this one,” he said.
Tom Southern, a boat captain for Capt. Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Safari, said the whale was moving slow.
“The whale is certainly docile, it’s just barely moving,” he said. “We’re just watching it closely… it’s just laying there with the stuff attached to its tail.”
A gusty wind making white-capped conditions may make rescuers’ job even harder.
The entangled whale was first spotted on an earlier trip by a whale acoustics expert on the boat, Southern said.
A report by NOAA released last December shows whale entanglements in U.S. waters in 2017 were slightly above the 10-year average, but on the West Coast there’s been a decline in reports.
In all, there were 31 entangled whales reported along the West Coast in 2017 compared to 62 in 2015 and 71 in 2016.
While some whales may be able to shed gear on their own, others may have to carry it for days, months or years, the NOAA website states.
Greenman said that if boaters do come across the whale, to give the animal space.
“As far as we’re concerned, we’re not calling this event over,” he said, noting that they will review photos and be in touch with authorities in Mexico to try and identify the whale.
Captain Dave Anderson, owner of Capt. Dave’s, said this latest entangled whale was “very emaciated.” While watching the whale, he noticed it was using only its pectoral flippers to swim, likely not using its tail fluke because it was too painful.
“Its really run out of steam. Even if they get it free, that would give it some hope – but it may be past the point of no return for that whale,” he said. “I don’t know if it would have enough steam to make it back to Alaska. You never know, you just never know.”
If boaters see the whale – which has an orange buoy attached to identify it — they should contact 1-877-SOS-WHALE or call the Coast Guard on Channel 16.