Oct. 31--Rescuers continued working Saturday to free a humpback whale that had become tangled in fishing line off the Southern California coast.
Authorities were alerted Friday to the plight of the whale, which had become tangled in at least 250 feet of Dungeness crab nets and buoys near Balboa Pier in Newport Beach. A team from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration arrived in an inflatable boat and began work to free the animal.
The whale traveled south as the crew trailed it. Justin Viezbicke, California Stranding Network coordinator for NOAA, said it is now off the coast of San Diego County.
Viezbicke said that rescuers are continuing to work to free the whale but that they likely will not be able to cut the lines entangled in its mouth because of the difficulty of getting close enough to the animal's head.
"Because of the nature of the entanglement on the mouth, it's almost impossible to get all of it off," he said. "Those approaches are significantly more challenging and more dangerous."
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He said the whale still appears healthy but added there is "concern about the health of the animal long-term" if the line impacts its ability to eat.
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