Whale Rescue – Hawaii – December 25, 2009
On Christmas day, members from the Hawaiian Islands Entanglement Response Team launched a rescue effort to investigate what was initially reported as an injured whale, possibly hit by a ship. They determined that the whale was actually entangled in fishing gear with a deep wound ahead of its tail. The team, consisting of staff from the Hawaiian Islands Humpback National Marine Sanctuary and NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands Regional Office, assisted by U.S. Coast Guard, successfully removed nearly all the line. Here is a clip of rescuers making the final cut to the lines to free the whale.
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