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  Yahoo News 17 Jul 06
2 entangled whales freed off Maine coast

Yahoo News 17 Jul 06
2 Humpbacks entangled off New England

BAR HARBOR, Maine - Rescue crews were attempting Sunday to free two humpback whales entangled in commercial fishing nets or marine rope in New England coastal waters.

One rescue crew arrived at a site off the Maine coast where a humpback was entangled in marine gear, said Theresa Barbo of the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies in Massachusetts.

People aboard a whale watch boat spotted the distressed humpback Saturday. The Maine Marine Patrol found the whale early Sunday in heavy fog.

"It is a life-threatening entanglement," said Barbo, who wasn't sure of the whale's size.

A second rescue team was on its way to an entangled humpback off the Massachusetts coast, the whale rescue organization said. Whale watch vessels from several tour companies were taking turns monitoring the humpback until the disentanglement team arrived.

The Coastal Studies center is permitted by the federal government to disentangle large whales entangled by marine debris, in most cases fishing gear.

Entanglements are a leading cause of whale deaths.

Yahoo News 17 Jul 06
2 entangled whales freed off Maine coast

BAR HARBOR, Maine - Two humpback whales that became entangled in marine gear off the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts were freed by whale rescue teams, officials said.

A 45-foot adult male humpback was disentangled July 10 by a Coastal Studies team in shallow waters between Provincetown and Gloucester, Mass. The whale had become caught up in a commercial fishing net.

Last August, a humpback was cut free by rescuers after heavy rope became wrapped around its flippers in Canadian waters. The whale had been tangled in anchored lobster gear for at least three days. Humpbacks, an endangered species, are known for their singing abilities and group hunting techniques.

People aboard a whale watch boat spotted one distressed whale on Saturday about 15 nautical miles southeast of Mount Desert Island.

Marine gear had cut deep into the whale's head, according to the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies in Massachusetts.

When the whale moved close enough to the surface Sunday, a rescue team aboard a 17-foot inflatable boat cut the line with a knife mounted on a pole, the center said. The entangling gear dropped free and the whale disappeared into the fog.

A second rescue team freed another humpback whale that had been entangled in gear about 150 miles away off the Massachusetts coast, officials with the coastal studies center said Sunday.

Humpback whales are listed as endangered species in the United States. About 12,000 humpbacks are estimated to live in the North Atlantic, with 900 feeding seasonally off the Northeast coast of the U.S., according to the center.

Entanglements are a leading cause of whale deaths. Boat strikes are also a threat to humpback whales, which are an endangered species.
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