A young minke whale that spent days swimming with heavy fishing rope and buoys tangled around its body has been freed off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, after rescuers managed to cut away most of the dangerous fishing gear. The roughly 18-foot minke whale was first spotted by recreational fishermen near Cape Cod Bay on Sunday, Sept. 6, according to the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS). The whale was carrying rope and other fishing equipment that had become tightly wrapped around its body.
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The minke whale was initially seen just before sunset near Cape Cod Bay. The Center for Coastal Studies’ Marine Animal Entanglement Response (MAER) team began searching the waters around Provincetown and Truro the following morning.
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But the rescuers could not find the whale. The search changed on the afternoon of Sept. 8, when an aerial survey team from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center spotted the entangled minke whale more than 40 miles away from where it had originally been seen.
The whale was spotted off Nauset Inlet in Eastham, and the MAER team quickly moved toward the location while the aerial crew remained overhead. “It is pretty rare for a free-swimming entangled minke whale to be seen again after its initial report,” said Scott Landry, director of the MAER program. “It was very lucky and fortunate that the aerial team resighted it.”
Fishing rope was wrapped around the whale
Once responders reached the minke whale, they found that the situation was serious. According to CCS, the whale appeared to have been dragging the fishing gear for some time. Heavy line was caught in its mouth and wrapped around its body multiple times. The entanglement was particularly dangerous because it could have prevented the whale from feeding normally.
