On this "perfect California morning" our first stop was Corona del Mar, (between Dana Point & Newport Beach Harbor) down a steep hill onto Little Corona Beach. Boats and parasails were out in force, and it was on this small beach, we saw the whales passing! In looking at my photos again, I can make out three just below the surface, long grey streaks in the water. In all our years out here, I've never been present to see the whales off the coast.
Imagine my surprise to read a news article that night about the passing pod, that, sadly, one was spotted tangled in a crabbing net. With so many people watching for him, I feel (hopefully) it will be attended to.
The News Story: Boaters in Southern California were asked to be on the lookout for a gray whale tangled in an unknown material heading north along the coast.
As of Tuesday morning, there has been no word of the whale being spotted.
Capt. Frank Brennan was leading a whale-watching tour Saturday when he spotted the whale with what looks like some kind of metal frame around its head about 2 miles off Dana Point.
"The whale was being evasive because there were so many boats around it," Brennan told the Orange County Register. He saw it a second time later in the day off Laguna Beach.
The National Marine Fisheries Service requested that boaters report any sightings of the tangled animal. Whales caught in materials such as fishing line or crabbing gear can starve or die from infected wounds.
The mammal was seen again around sunset Saturday near Newport Beach Harbor by Capt. Dave Anderson, who runs a separate whale-watching cruise and is involved in whale rescues.
Anderson told The Associated Press it's the fourth tangled whale he has seen in the past two months.
Figures released last month showed a record number of whales getting caught in crabbing gear off the U.S. West Coast. The Center for Biological Diversity cited 71 cases of whales caught in fishing lines off California, Oregon and Washington last year. It was the highest annual total for the region since record-keeping began in 1982.
The numbers of such entanglements have been climbing yearly.
California recently passed legislation meant to encourage crabbers to remove unused crabbing gear from the ocean.
Beautiful shot! So very sad about the loss of whale life due to manmade obstacles...heartbreaking! I hope someone can help and rescue the whale with the metal frame or trap! Fingers crossed!!! FAV.
Such a beautiful scene! Love to see the birds on the rock! So sad about the whale - I do hope someone can help it but it sounds an impossible task! Fav for your lovely image!
This is a beautiful shot. Love the birds on top of the rock, especially that pelican. Very sad about the whale getting tangled in that gear, that is an ongoing problem I know.
That's our beautiful southern CA coast! I like the framing of that sail boat and all the birds..... But 70 plus whales caught in crabbing nets. That's awful...... I didn't realize it was that high.
April 6th, 2017
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