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Rescuers Search For Entangled Whale Off Cape

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Mar 23, 2007 4:44 pm US/Eastern

Rescuers Search For Entangled Whale Off Cape

August 2006 Slideshow: Entangled Whale Rescue

PROVINCETOWN (WBZ) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 2: "Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies. Image taken under NOAA Fisheries permit 932-1489, with the authority of the US Endangered Species Act."
Click to enlarge 2 of 2: The attached images are for one-time use only and the following caption information must accompany the images and is a condition of use: "Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies. Image taken under NOAA Fisheries permit 932-1489, with the authority of the
"Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies. Image taken under NOAA Fisheries permit 932-1489, with the authority of the US Endangered Species Act."

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An endangered North Atlantic right whale was seen this week entangled in marine line in Cape Cod Bay, but rescuers have been unable to reach it.

The entangled whale is a 16-year-old female that's had two calves and is at the start of her breeding years, so losing her would be "a blow to the population," according to Greg Krutzikowsky, director of the disentanglement program at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown.

The whale was first spotted tangled in green marine line about 20 miles southeast of Chatham on March 9. It was spotted again on Wednesday about 14 miles southwest of Provincetown.

The whale dove so frequently that rescuers from the center were unable to free it or attach a device that could track it, Krutzikowsky said.

Rescuers were unable to search Thursday because of inclement weather.

"We're sort of waiting until it gets seen again," Krutzikowsky said.

Fishing gear entanglements and ship strikes are the greatest manmade threats to the right whale, which scientists estimate have a worldwide population of about 350.