An Adult Gray Whale Rescued from Gillnet Entanglement off Palos Verdes Peninsula
An adult gray whale that was found entangled in a gillnet off the US coast of Southern California’s Palos Verdes Peninsula has been freed by a National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) team. The incident occurred on April 9.
Responders with NMFS, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also known as NOAA Fisheries, discovered that the gillnet was caught on a rock crab trap on the bottom, which was ultimately “tying the whale in place.”
“The whale was anchored in place because of the trap about 100 feet down on the sea floor and was having difficulty coming to the surface to breathe,” Justin Greenman, assistant California stranding coordinator for NMFS’ west coast region, explained in a news release.
Responders say that the rock crab trap was set near Newport Beach in Orange County. The whale had “dragged” the gear “some distance” before it became caught on the sea floor.
Efforts to free the whale from the gear took about two hours, with responders requiring specialized tools to cut most of the gear. NOAA said that the whale swam away rapidly upon being freed.
“It wasn’t going anywhere because of the way the net was caught,” added Justin Viezbicke, California stranding coordinator for NOAA Fisheries, who led the response. “Without our response, the chances of this whale surviving were very low.”
NOAA’s response to the whale entanglement comes as the administration of US president Donald Trump seeks to drastically scale back the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Under the newly proposed definition, endangered species would only be protected from intentional killing or injury caused by activities such as hunting, trapping or harassment.
If interpreted broadly, the change could dramatically alter US fisheries management and regulation. Enforcement and regulation of ESA has shaped US commercial fishing regulation, and fights over the interpretation of the law and how it protects species like the North Atlantic right whale along the Atlantic coast, humpback and gray whales along the Pacific coast, and marine turtles in the US Southeast have resulted in numerous lawsuits, as reported by Undercurrent News.
