Alert Issued for Whale Tangled in Gill Net : Marine animals: Head of rescue center hopes someone up the coast will see the humpback, which was spotted July 4 off Ventura.

Peter Howorth was returning from a day spent observing and photographing whales off the Ventura County coast when he saw a humpback that looked odd.

When he and other researchers drew close enough, they realized that the whale was laboring under the weight of a gill net encrusted with barnacles. The net was so big that it trailed 20 feet behind the 35-foot-long mammal, Howorth said.

It was too late in the day to attempt a rescue, so Howorth’s team did the next best thing: They took photographs of the endangered animal in the hopes that someone would see it as it migrates up the California coast.

“There are a lot of eyes and ears out there,” said Howorth, executive director of the Santa Barbara-based Marine Mammal Center, a nonprofit group that rescues sick and injured sea animals in the Santa Barbara Channel.

“If somebody sees it, maybe they will report it and we can get out there and rescue it.”

Howorth saw the whale July 4, but the incident was only recently publicized by the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. Howorth believes the whale has probably made its way to the central coast by now.

It was the second time in recent months that his group has seen a whale caught in a gill net, Howorth said. Last winter, a dead young sperm whale, heavily wrapped in a gill net, washed ashore at San Miguel Island, he said. Sperm whales also are on the federal endangered species list.

Although gill nets regularly ensnare sea lions, rays and other animals, whale injuries are unusual, officials said.

In 1985, 15 whales were killed or injured by gill nets placed in waters off California, said Jim Lecky, a biologist with the National Marine Fisheries. But since then, new regulations have forced fisherman to use nets with breakaway panels that whales usually can tear through.

Gill netters also avoid areas where whales are likely to be migrating, reducing the number of tangled whales seen in a typical year to fewer than three, Lecky said.

Gill nets are stretched in the water like a volleyball net that is several thousand feet long. Opponents call them “walls of death” because they sweep through the waters and catch a wide variety of species.

The fishing industry has maintained that the nets are safe and economical when used properly.

Howorth said the humpback he saw had been tangled for weeks and maybe months, judging by the barnacles that had formed on the net.

“It’s like carrying around a ball and chain,” he said. “Eventually (the whale) will die of exhaustion or it will die from infection. It’s a very slow, painful death.”

Howorth said he believes the whale may be seen again off Avila Beach, Morro Bay or Monterey, all areas where humpbacks gather this time of year.