Whale Freed after Six-Month Entanglement in the Monterey Bay Earlier this Month

MONTEREY BAY, Calif. (KION) -- A humpback whale was freed after being entangled in the Monterey Bay since October 2024.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) helped to detangle the humpback whale on April 5th.

The Large Whale Entanglement Response Network secured the location of the whale. The researchers identified the whale as Check.

The endangered whale Check is part of a group of pods that migrate between here and Central America.

The team of researchers from the Marine Mammal Center, Marine Life Studies, and Cascadia Research Collective found the Check attached to crab traps.

This came after another report of a whale entangled on March 2th. The team then attached a buoy to the gear that had Check entangled. This allowed the team to find the whale to begin their detanglement efforts.

“Usually we try to reach entangled whales quickly, but for various reasons we followed this one for almost 6 months before we could finally get it done,” Cetacean Conservation Biology's Dr. Julia O'Hern said. “Fortunately, the whale was finally freed.”