Humpback whale entangled in shallow waters since August finally swims free! - Watch video

Image courtesy: Newport Coastal Adventures/YouTube

New Delhi: Animals are considered as the world's treasure. There's always a happy feeling when animals – land or marine – are seen in their respective habitats, while seeing them in danger breaks our heart.

It was an emotional moment for officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who have been monitoring a humpback whale seen off Newport Beach and Dana Point since the past few weeks, which had beached itself and got tangled in a fishing net, finally swim free.

The 12-metre whale had come very close to the beach in just about one-metre water when it became entangled in the net.

As per The Orange County Register, whale watching boats from Newport Beach and Dana Point have compared photos taken during disentanglement efforts to photos of the whale taken in the last few days. The whale has distinctive markings and dorsal fin.

Justin Viezbicke, marine mammal stranding coordinator for NOAA, said Tuesday he is monitoring the whale.

“It’s hard to say at this point for sure what has happened,” he said. “Even if the gear off the flipper is no longer visible we don’t know for sure until we get better footage. Hopefully, the whale will hang out a while longer so we can continue to monitor,” reported The OC Register.

While a drone footage on Saturday showed the whale still entangled in the line, a footage taken on Sunday by Ryan Lawler, a boat captain on Newport Coastal Adventures, showed the humpback feeding with a pod of dolphins and the line seemed to have disappeared.

Check out the video below!

(Video courtesy: Newport Coastal Adventure)

Video and photos taken from the boat’s underwater pod also indicate that there is no more entanglement.

The OC Register further reported that data from NOAA shows that the number of entanglements has increased in recent years. Last year, 61 whales were reported entangled off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California, the highest number since NOAA began keeping records in 1982.