Biologists are hoping to save a humpback whale last seen entangled in a fishing net off the coast of San Pedro.
The whale was first spotted near Palos Verdes Thursday by passengers and crew on a midday whale watching tour. Wildlife experts responding to the tour’s report set out on boats to try to remove the net, but were stymied by choppy waters.
“The team made multiple attempts to reach the trailing gear, but the whale’s behavior and water and weather conditions hampered their efforts,” Sarah Mesnick, a biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center, told KTLA. “They also attempted to put on a satellite tracking tag, but similarly, conditions hampered their efforts.”
The whale was last seen Thursday near Point Fermin in San Pedro. The same animal was observed without a net Aug. 22 off the coast of Humboldt County, and Sept. 20 near San Luis Obispo, according to reports.
“Because of this entanglement, this whale is not able to move freely,” Harbor Breeze Cruises posted along with a video of the whale. This is the second entangled whale the tour operator has witnessed since August, the company said.
The imperiled whale was seen just one day after NOAA released a report counting 76 cases of large whales entangled in castoff lines and nets off U.S. coasts in 2025. Fishing gear was responsible for 46% of the cases, with the rest attributed to ropes or lines not directly tied to fishing.
While the total was down from the previous year’s record high of 95 entanglements, California still surpasses all other U.S. states in the number of cases. Nearly 27% of 2025 entanglements were observed off the coast of California.
“It’s disturbing that we have to add yet another humpback to this year’s morbid tally of whale entanglements, even though we know how to solve this problem,” Ben Grundy-Hawley of the Center for Biological Diversity said in a statement. “This poor whale went from swimming freely to being desperately entangled in fishing gear, and it’s all too likely that this will end in death. Pop-up gear could help prevent these tragedies, and we need to move quickly to deploy it and protect our whales from this deadly threat.”
NOAA has asked the public to report any sightings of the whale to the entanglement hotline at (877) 767-9425, or (877) SOS-WHALE.
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