Rescuers Search for Gray Whale Entangled in Gill Net off California Coast

On March 22, a 30-foot (9-meter) gray whale was first spotted with its tail entangled in a gill net off the coast of Lagune Beach in Southern California. The whale, part of the annual migration of gray whales from Mexico to Alaska, was last seen off the Northern California coast near San Francisco. Rescuers have been diligently working to free the distressed animal from the entanglement.

Despite efforts by the rescue team from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries and the Marine Mammal Center, the attempts to free the whale were met with challenges. The team approached the whale on Tuesday, but it became aggressive, preventing them from cutting the net. The team later attached two buoys to the net to make it easier to spot, but the satellite tracker used to monitor the animal's movement became detached. As a result, the search for the entangled whale continues.

Renewed Rescue Efforts

As of Wednesday, the rescue team was actively searching for the whale north of San Francisco. The team aims to either cut the net entanglement or attach another satellite tag to monitor the whale's movements. Kathi George, director of cetacean conservation biology at the Marine Mammal Center, emphasized the importance of retrieving the gear from the whale to understand the entanglement and prevent similar incidents in the future.

The ongoing efforts to rescue the entangled gray whale shed light on the annual migration of these marine mammals. Every spring, gray whales embark on a 5,000-mile (8,000-kilometer) journey from their birthing waters off Baja California, Mexico, to their feeding grounds in the Arctic. The conservation and protection of these whales during their migration are crucial to their survival.