Entangled Humpack freed off Molokai

NOAA's Hawaiian Islands Humpback National Marine Sanctuary rescuers

This past Sunday (12/06/09) afternoon, rescuers from the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary freed a juvenile Humpack.   The entangled young whale was first spotted by a whale-watching cruise on Dec 1st.  Apparently hundreds of feet of polypropylene rope was entangled through the animals mouth, around its head and behind its blowhole.

Members from NOA’s Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, NOAA’s Pacific Islands Regional Office and Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) were allowed close enough to cut the lines using specialized equipment after a U.S. Coast Guard patrol boat crossed the Kaiwi channel from oahu to waters west of Molokai.

The rope only caused the whale superficial chaffing, however if not removed overtime, “the rope would have killed the yearling whale because it may have interfered with feeding overtime” according to Ed Lyman the Sanctuary’s marine mammal response manager (quote taken from The Maui News Tuesday, Dec 8, 2009).

The whale was cut free using an improvised tree trimmer, buoys, a sea anchor and old whaling technique used to the exhaust the animals.  David Schofield NOAA’s Hawaiian Islands Humpback National Marine Sanctuary, mammal stranding response coordinator, described the freeing as, “…jubilation.  It was a really good feeling.”  Further, Schofield noted that, “Coast Guard’s Help was essential and critical.”

Click here for dramatic footage of rescuers cutting the juvenile humpback free!

Coast Guard Petty Officer Ryan Lundy and Seaman Darren Park, both Coast Guard Station Honolulu, watch as experts remove line from a yearling whale off Molokai

entangled yearling humpback

The culprit: polypropylene rope- ocean debris responsible for entangling the whale