2nd rescue attempt underway for entangled blue whale off Calif. coast

A second rescue effort is underway off the coast of Dana Point to free a blue whale from fishing lines in which it’s been entangled since Monday morning.

The incident began when Captain Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Safari reported finding the whale entangled three to four miles off the coast with 100 feet of buoys and fishing lines dragging behind it. The whale was spotted during the first whale-watching trip of the day, the company reported on its Facebook page.

The crew found the whale Monday afternoon and tried to untangle it but had to abandon the effort after it showed signs of distress, said Michael Milstein of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Subsequent rescuers attached a telemetry buoy to the whale to keep track of the animal but had to detach the device and return to shore because they feared the whale would swim away with it after it was untangled, he said.

The whale “appeared to become more uncomfortable” each time rescuers approached and would dive deeper and longer, Milstein said. The whale is estimated to be about 80 feet long, KTLA reported.

Rescuers set out again Tuesday morning to try and find the whale again so they could untangle it.

The rescue operation is the first disentanglement attempt of a blue whale off the coast of California, Milstein said. Experts believe the whale is the same one that was first spotted about 30 miles off the San Diego coast over the weekend, he said.

Last year, 61 whales were reportedly entangled off the West Coast, according to a March NOAA report. There have been nearly 40 reports of whale entanglements so far in 2016, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

UPDATES:

8:06 a.m.: This article has been updated with details of Monday’s rescue attempt.

This article was originally published at 6:35 a.m.