A humpback whale is currently trapped in a commercial fishing net near Point Fermin in San Pedro. Despite urgent attempts by wildlife experts to intervene, rough seas and adverse weather have so far prevented the animal's rescue.
Rough seas at Point Fermin thwart rescue of entangled humpback
The distressed animal was first identified on Thursday by the crew and passengers of a Harbor Breeze whale-watching tour near Point Fermin. According to the report, video footage shared by the tour operator shows a heavy commercial fishing net wrapped around the whale's midsection, which has severely restricted the movement of its pectoral fins. Harbor Breeze noted that this entanglement is hindering the whale's ability to feed, move freely, and reach the surface to breathe .
Response teams from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) attempted to reach the animal by boat, but choppy waters made the operation impossible. Sarah Mesnick, a biologist with the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center, stated that the team's efforts to remove the trailing gear and attach a satellite tracking tag were both hampered by the whale's behavior and the prevailing weather conditions.
From Humboldt County to San Pedro: A whale's tragic trajectory
The current plight of the whale is particularly stark because the animal was recently observed in good health . The same humpback was spotted swimming without any visible nets off the coast of Humboldt County on August 22 and later near San Luis Obispo on September 20. This timeline sgugests the entanglement occurred recently as the whale migrated south toward Southern California.
The sighting in San Pedro marks the second entangled whale witnessed by Harbor Breeze since August. This pattern of sudden entanglement underscores the volatility of the environment for migrating cetaceans, who can transition from swimming freely to being trapped in lethal gear within a matter of weeks.
California's 27.6% share of a record-breaking entanglement year
This incident is part of a wider, systemic crisis in U.S. waters. A NOAA report reveals that 2025 has seen a record number of large whale entanglements, with 76 confirmed cases across the country. Of these, fishing gear was the primary culprit in 46% of the instances, while the remaining cases involved ropes or lines not directly associated with active fishing.
California has emerged as the epicenter of this trend, accounting for 27.6% of all reported entanglements in the U.S., slightly ahead of Alaska's 23.7%. Ben Grundy-Hawley of the Center for Biological Diversity described the situation as a "morbid tally," arguing that these tragedies are solvable if protective measures are deployed rapidly to prevent whales from encountering deadly gear.
What specific gear caused the San Pedro entanglement?
While the report identifies the culprit as a "cmomercial fishing net," several critical details remain unknown.. It is currently unclear which specific type of commercial fishing operation the net originated from, or if the gear was active or abandoned "ghost gear." Furthermore, the report does not specify if the whale has been sighted since Thursday or if the NOAA team has a secondary window for a rescue attempt as weather conditions shift.
The public is currently being asked by NOAA to report any new sightings of the whale to the entanglement hotline at (877) 767-9425 to help rescuers track the animal's location.
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