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Subscribe to RSSA California gray whale is moving freely after rescuers spent seven hours untangling it from a discarded fishing net. Rescuers suspect the whale had been dragging the net--which was filled with dozens of dead animals--for weeks. KNBC-TV's Vikki Vargas reports.
A California gray whale is moving freely after rescuers spent seven hours untangling it from a discarded fishing net off the Orange County coast, local media reported.
The young whale was spotted Friday night off the coast of Dana Point Harbor, Calif., covered in nearly 50 feet of fishing wire. Rescue crews suspected it had been dragging the nylon netting, which was filled with dead sea animals, for nearly a week.
"We had a sea lion, we had several sharks ... the whole ecosystem, you know, was in that netting," Dave Anderson, who works with DolphinSafari.com and was part of the weekend rescue, told NBCLosAngeles.com.
Anderson got permission from the National Marine Fisheries Services Friday evening to attach a buoy to the mammal to monitor it overnight as a team of wildlife experts assembled for a rescue attempt the following morning, The Los Angeles Times reported.
The challenge: to cut through the netting without hurting the whale, which they named "Bart" after one of the boaters who stayed with the whale overnight as it drifted up the coast, reported The LA Times.
The rescue involved seven tiring hours of sawing through the nylon as rescue crews followed the whale for mile after mile out to sea.
"It was getting very frightening towards the end of the day because we were running out of time," Anderson told NBCLosAngeles.com. Crews were using grappling hooks and lines to reel in the mammal and a knife to cut away debris, according to The LA Times. Then, at last, a line snapped as the whale dived down, pulling buoys down with it.
"Those buoys just went under the water all of a sudden," Anderson told NBCLosAngeles. "And when they went under the water, I mean, it was like a scene from 'Jaws.'"
When the whale came back up, he was free.
More about Bart the whale on NBCLosAngeles.com
Anderson, who does whale-watching tours, told NBCLosAngeles.com that many dolphins and whales die in fishing nets each year, and he's grateful to have saved one.
"He came right up to our boat and almost mouthed, like, a thank you. It was pretty awesome."
According to The LA Times, Bart was last seen four miles off Corona de Mar, and appeared healthy.
NBC station NBCLosAngeles.com contributed to this report.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:
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Oh, I am SO happy for Bart. Thanks to the folks who saved him.
Hopefully, I'll see Bart later in Kuyima Mexico. Maybe he needs a good scratch on some of those barnicles.
How lucky are those that were able to free him. What a chance of a lifetime. I am jealous.... BUT THANKS!
Ericalewis - Scummy human to take a story like this and use it to try to scam people. Makes me think whales might be superior beings!
That was one whale of a story.
What a beautiful and happy story, always something amazing to see first thing in the morning. God bless all those that helped Bart and I hope Bart will have a long happy life away from nets.
Free Bart Free Bart..finally a feel good story in the news.. about the whale and all those people involved in the rescue...CHEERS!
Awesome!
Some good news for a change.
Now he can go back to annoying Homer.
I can hear the Republicans screaming now; "This is Obama's fault, this whale rescue was a waste of tax payer dollars and would have been better spent giving more tax cuts to the "job Creators". With all B.S that surrounds us everyday, it is refreshing to read an uplifting story because compassion is a commodity in very short supply in this world. I think whales might be more intelligent than man at least they don't have to put up with idiot politicians, best wishes Bart
Obviously the whale was fishing illegally and got what was coming to him - until humans interfered.
Yah, wonderful story!
Here is a helpful website to help you shop for fish that has been caught sustainably.
http://www.fishonline.org/
Awesome, indeed. In a world full of hatred and violence, it's nice to read about things like this. The world might be a better place if we helped each other like we help animals.
Great story! Awesome job, rescue guys! We need more positive news like that in the media.
I thought my wife had made the news for a minute! Fishnet is sexy.
Agreed its nice to see a happy story once in a while.
What a great story. Awesome indeed!
Great story!!! If we only behaved like this all the time then we would be an amazing species.
Says the guy who now must kiss some serious wife a** if he ever expects to get some again.
Very cool that Bart was saved. These "nets" are incredibly dangerous to all living things within the sea. Leaving them in the water should be a serious crime, and it's long past the time they should be dealt with.
Nets break, I don't think many people are simply leaving them out there.
It is also possible that this net is some of the debris that was washed away during the disaster in Japan last year, Another article is showing a ghost ship off the Coast Of BC, Seems the debris is drifting eastward.
Kudos to all those invloved in the rescue.
They are set nets and drift gill nets 75% of what they catch are not what they want.They should be banned! The drift gill nets in California have wiped out the basking sharks that in 1970's and 80's were abundent no longer, have not seen one in over 25 years. All species of fish can be caught with hook and line without the mass killing of unwanted species,what you see here is just a tip of the iceberg far worse than most people know. Been on the ocean for forty years, my stories would make you sick, this is minor in comparison. Where's PETA when there really needed!
Larry-1254912 -- Why aren't you telling your stories? You should contact NBCLosAngeles.com and offer to provide information so they can do a follow-up on this.
Emily-I know what your saying, I have tried in the past, drift net association has the ca. fish and game comission in there back pockets, like everthing else it's politics and who has the the most money, has nothing to do with whats right or wrong, just who has more power! Very sad.
,
Emily:
No one really cares about stories of endless slaughter of sea animals in gill nets, unless there is some compelling drama to make everyone feel all warm and fuzzy. The fact of the matter is that mankind is killing the oceans and the process accelerates more rapidly each year because there is less and less sustainability. Gill nets have caused the entire fish ecosystem in the North Atlantic to collapse, leading to fishing bans over hundreds of thousands of square miles for the last several years. 90 million sharks are slaughtered every year for no other reason than to chop off their tail fin for soup, while discarding the entire remaining fish. Sharks are a hugely important part of the ocean's ecosystem. Whales, once prevalent in every ocean in the world, have been systematically slaughtered to the edge of extinction. The list could go on for hours. One by one the ocean's ecosystems are collapsing. All that will be left are algae blooms.
The fact is, mankind and the Earth are at a tipping point. The ever increasing number of people on this planet, and the economic rise of massively populated countries like China and India, means exponentially more demand for resources, including potable water.
Perhaps it is not in mankind's nature to take care of the only planet we have to sustain us. We're decades away from setting up puny outposts on a couple of inhospitable moons in our solar system. In that time it appears we will surely deplete the Earth's resources and pollute the ecosphere to the point the steady list of extinction events will start to include mankind itself.
As long as profit is the ONLY motive, and sustainability is not central to every nation's economic model and policies, the long, slow slide to extinction will continue to increase in velocity.
The good news may very well be that we'll slaughter ourselves first through ever escalating warfare. Enough of Earth's ecosystems may remain intact so that evolution can continue and the Earth cleanse and renew itself.
Geturheadoutofurazz!
Could humans do better yes I agree. However I suggest you research the history of Earth. It's very resilient and has faced many tribulations that make man's impact look like a grain of sand on the beach.
Oh, such good news to read today! Go, Bart! Go, people who don't deny the link we share with marine mammals.
Geturheadoutofurazz!
I have to agree with you. While the earth has undergone loads of change, blah, blah, blah, the fact of the matter is that Bart was rescued from a man made piece of floating crap, we don't care how the planet is being ruined, we're just a bunch of intelligent apes willing to foul our own nest and to hell with the rest of creation. The religious right is the worst of the bunch, they claim a God given right to @!$%# things up. The amount of discarded plastic floating out in the ocean is a guarantee of toxicity for marine life for eons to come.
Maybe...but how many people get to eat if we only use hook and line to fish? There is no way that using hook and line alone is going to meet the worlds demand unless anyone and everyone that relies on the sea for food becomes full time fishermen.
not everyone on planet earth is supposed to be eating fish. throughout the history of mankind only people in coastal areas ate fish. modern transport and refrigeration and industralized fishing methods have made fish widely available and also caused the ultimate destruction of the oceans.
No, blame the fact that from 1945 on the Canadian government considered the the Basking Shark as a nuisance and conducted an eradication program. It was the later over fishing that kept them from recovering, but was not the cause of their decline.
nice deeds never go unnoticed.....EVER
This is truely one of those "feel good" stories! Thank you to all that helped to free Bart! That was amazing! I know for sure that HE did thank you! Great story!
Thank you to all who made this happen excluding the morons who put the net in the water to begin with!
They should fine the whale for illegal fishing.
Seriously, I know people who have gotten $350 fines for fishing without a license; why should this whale get off scot-free?
Whales are pretty smart. The Whale might have "mouthed" FU for tampering with it's fishing device.
The whale is a native Pacifican and does not need a license ;~)
Your a magnificent Moron. ( Chris )
Chris, you may surface for air now!
I agree Chris, we may have been looking at this all wrong. For all we know, the whale was on an illegal poaching run. Probably even crossed the border illegally! Did anyone ask for it's residence status?
Thanks for the laugh!
Thank you Anderson and crew. I love whales, and I am sure the whale thanked you too. This was a feel good story. It added a touch of joy first thing this morning.
Why, if they are not, aren't fishing nets tagged with the owners information on them so when these nets are found loose at sea full of innocent creatures, the owner can be charged ? I suppose it's like every other law on Earth. It can't be enforced. Shame. Man will continue to destroy mother Earth for profit till there is nothing left.
Mother Earth doesn't even notice we are here. It will also be here long after man is gone. It will even replace everything we "took" form it.
They are but the fisherman cut them off!
Amen Corn-Fed-Up! Everyone is talking about what a "feel good" story this is and no one says anything about the fact that these nets are just discarded for all kinds of sea life to just die in
If this whale had not gotten caught in it - no one would have cared.
We have to stop destroying this planet! And Bobby Jones Bia - YES MOTHER EARTH DOES KNOW WE'RE HERE!
We continue to over-populate, over-pollute and destroy this planet on a daily basis. Just where do any of you suggest we live once we've made the Earth un-inhabitable? Do you see any other "Earth's" out there that we can move to?
Thank God this young whale was rescued. We SHOULD have rescued as we were responsible for it's predicament in the first place. I pray that humans start waking up before it's too late.
And Bobby Jones Bia - the Earth can and will shake us off like the fleas we are. But it will take her many years to heal the damage that we have done in a relatively short period of time.
Excellent work. Just so sorry to be reading about this stuff so frequently.
We do not know our limits. We cannot know if there is a point at which we have so transformed the oceans that we have transformed ourselves. So, perhaps, all we can do is keep going out there to check, keep trying to get a seaward peep.
Logic, exactly what the heck are you saying? I couln't follow your logic.
makes me feel guilty for eating fish, sloppy fishermen need to get it right!
Go eat a nice COW or a PIG, chicken or various other animals.
Why don't you eat only farm raised fish?
E A T------ B A C O N .
Save the whales! Eat the dolphins first.
Rick, here's the equation for farm raised fish protein: 2 lbs of protein required = 1 pound of farm raised fish. It's not a good tradeoff.
In the event you failed to comprehend the equation, two pounds of protein are required to make a single pound of farm raised fish.
Hey Peridot, all the education you received and look what we got. Not a good trade there either.
So did the rescuers just cut and run leaving the net in the water to further endanger sea life? Geebus I hope not....
it's obama's fault!!!
had all those damned liberals not
made healthcare for all such a priority
the conservative fisherman would've never thrown
his net into the water in disgust, and then the
whale would've never gotten caught!!!
damn those liberals and their compassion!!!
now they're hurting innocent god-fearing sea creatures!!!
Thanks for the laugh, very well done:)
Bush did it.
Thank you, thank you, to the boaters who saw Bart in distress and fixed his problem. I saw a similar video out of Baja recently. In Florida each individual crab trap has to have the owners ID on it. Nets ought to have that also. Shrimpers had to install turtle escape hatches in their nets 20+ years ago. Nets should not be allowed to be deployed on migration routes - during migration season. With ID's on the nets, Fish and Wildlife officers know who to check with when nets get lost and are later found on whales, on the beach or in places they are not supposed to be. Seafood may or may not get more expensive. When net owners have to explain and maybe pay a fine when their nets get loose, they may buy better gear, check it more often, loose it less and save not buying replacements. And save important animals besides.
Very cool. Awesome story. Fantastic outcome! Thanks for bringing it to us MSN.
baby killer whale swam under and around our sailboat while mamma watched...
amazing creatures those whales
Kudos Bart...you are one special human being to stick with that whale overnight...I hope you win the lottery !!
What a great story. Way to go rescurers. I suspect your kindness shows up in many different ways each day. Thank you.
Finally, a story with a happy ending! If more people had the same fortitude to be caring to everything, including humans, this world would be so much better off!
Why is it that this program alowes idiets to leave comments ? I think they should be taged as such and then banned
I think you may have answered you own question! "idiets"
Dude!! You do know how to use spell check, right?
I have found the idiots--5
Eric-1696015
Tron-88878887
Denver Bill 2
Logic physicist
Chris-629698
Hey Chuck, The COH applies to you as well. "Idiots" because they use sarcasm, really?
Charles,
Since you are obviously comedically challenged, allow me to increase your vocabulary:
A buffoon is someone who is ridiculous and amusing, such as a clown or a court jester. You almost qualify. As soon as you learn to be amusing, you'll be there.
wow! that's a whale of a story.
I'm glad the whale survived. However, I doubt the whale mouthed "thank you" to its rescuers. Once again, a case of anthropomorphism.
You mean wish thinking regarding anthropomorphism. Great story. Too bad so many have to die because of human negligence.
It's likely that whales communicate in some way among themselves. They make sounds that travel for kilometers underwater. It isn't impossible that the whale was aware the humans assisted it. Their intelligence may be equal to our own.
It's clear that whale intelligence is superior to that of many posters on boards around these parts...
"Their intelligence may be equal to our own."
I doubt it, but that is just my opinion. Considering they are highly social creatures one would have thought that other whales would have been in the area trying to help assist. Or was this whale intentionally entangled by one of it's own and left for dead? Whale society justice maybe?
How many hospitals have whales built?