Crew frees whale tangled in fishing line

KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii – A 45-ton humpback whale tangled in heavy fishing line in Hawaiian waters for more than a week has been freed.

A crew from the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary on Saturday used a pole equipped with a knife to saw the line free, West Hawaii Today reported.

Several hundred feet of heavy line used for hoisting crab pots was cut away, sanctuary spokesman Ed Lyman said.

The entangled whale was spotted Feb. 13 off the Big Island’s Kona Coast by Big Island helicopter tour companies.

The West Hawaii Marine Mammal Response Network documented the whale’s conditions and attached a tag allowing the animal to be tracked by satellite.

On Saturday the crew sidled up to the whale in an inflatable boat. The crew grappled and held the line before attaching more buoys to keep the whale from diving, Lyman said.

The inflatable boat was towed behind the whale at about 3 knots as the crew pulled to within 10 feet of the creature and began cutting line.

“There was no sudden thrashing. It would trumpet blow, which is a sign of stress,” Lyman said. “It definitely wasn’t happy with us being there. It didn’t understand.”

All line but a small piece lodged in a wound was cut. The fragment should fall out naturally as the wound heals, Lyman said.