Scientists Work to Free Entangled Whale

A small battle is going on off the coast of South Carolina as scientist are struggling to free a 2 year old whale caught in fishing line:

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Scientists working to help an Atlantic right whale that is entangled in fishing gear were able to keep track of it overnight and expected good conditions to continue, a spokeswoman said Friday.

Rescue workers removed some of the hundreds of feet of fishing line and other gear attached to the 35- to 40-foot whale Thursday after it was spotted about 14 miles off the Charleston coast.

Aided by calm seas and the light from a nearly full moon, they stayed within a half-mile of the 2-year-old whale overnight, Theresa Barbo of the Provincetown, Mass.-based Center for Coastal Studies said Friday.
Struggle

Hurray, the whale has been freed!!

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Scientists apparently freed a young whale from more than 150 feet of lobster fishing gear Friday after riding alongside the animal on a Coast Guard cutter for nearly 24 hours.

The fishing gear had wrapped around the animal's head and was digging into its flesh, said Barb Zoodsma, a right whale recovery coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who was part of the rescue team.

The rescue team, which had been following the whale off the coast of Charleston since Thursday, had added buoys and other weights to the gear to slow the whale down so the fishing lines could be cut. But the whale fought, and the pressure eventually pulled the line from the whale's mouth, officials said.
Free

That's good to hear they freed it.
While visiting my brother we watched a program (no idea what channel, but it was a charity of some sort) and it was showcasing a whale that had been caught in fishing line. They worked to free it, but were unsuccessful, and after so long the whale ended up washing ashore dead. It was very sad, seeing how deep the fishing line cut, it was horrible.