An attempt to free a whale entangled in fishing net was called off on Friday night and crews hoped to resume efforts on Saturday.
An adult fin whale was spotted about two miles off the coast of Dana Point Friday afternoon, officials with the Pacific Marine Mammal Center said in a news release.
"It's clearly not in very good health status," said Justin Viezbicke, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "It's obviously been entangled for quite some time. The line is starting to cut through into the whale."
Viezbicke and six other rescue workers spent five hours trying to cut the line off the whale.
"We were on top of it," he said. "We were probably 15 or 20 feet away from this whale."
The group used a knife, which has a special safety tip so as not to stab the whale, to hook around the entanglement, but ultimately they were unsuccessful.
"When our rescuer that was operating the knife on a pole touched the whale with the knife blade, the whale spooked quite a bit and he actually flipped his fluke, trying to hit us, so it's very dangerous," said Dana Friedman, a volunteer with the National Marine Fisheries whale rescue team. "It breaks your heart when you can't help an animal."
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Captain Dave Anderson, of Capt. Dave's Dana Point Whale Watching, said he's seen this whale up to four times since May, tangled up.
"About a thousand dolphins and whales are dying in nets and fishing gear entanglement every day worldwide," he said. "It's a huge problem. It's very frustrating when we get inches away from helping a whale and we just can't do it."
If you see the whale, call this number: 877-SOS-WHALE.
