GREAT DUCK ISLAND, Maine — Officials responded Thursday afternoon to a report of an entangled minke whale off Mount Desert Island but have been unable to find the marine mammal.
Officials with the U.S. Coast Guard and Maine Marine Patrol said Thursday evening that the report of the entangled whale came in around 2 p.m.
Sgt. Jay Carroll of Marine Patrol said the animal was spotted by a whale watch boat.
Carroll said the animal was described as having a rope caught in its mouth and wrapped around its body, including possibly around its dorsal fin. The whale was swimming, as opposed to being anchored in place, when it was spotted, he said.
Carroll said the people who reported it were not sure if the rope was from fishing gear. No equipment such as a buoy or trap, or even a long section of rope, was reported to be trailing off the whale, he said.
The Marine Patrol officer said the agency sent out a boat Thursday afternoon to Great Duck Island but were unable to find the whale. The state agency plans to send a plane up in the morning to see if the whale can be spotted from the air, according to Carroll.
“Our plan is to fly in the morning with our aircraft,” he said. “I don’t know if we will find it or not.”
Minke whales are smaller than most other whales, growing to lengths of up to 35 feet. Unlike several larger whale species, minke whales are not listed as endangered or threatened, though they are protected under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. There are an estimated 185,000 minke whales in the North Atlantic Ocean, according to information posted on the NOAA Fisheries website.
Follow BDN reporter Bill Trotter on Twitter at @billtrotter.
So tomorrow we are going to spend money on aircraft to find a whale then if found spend how much to get it free of the ropes?
Having read many of your nasty, redneck comments, I would do nothing to save your sorry azz, should a similar calamity befall you. The whale is a noble and intelligent being. You are the exact opposite.
First off I am a Yankee NOT a redneck.. Name calling is the last resort of those with no point to make. Funny though if I was out and YOU where drowning I would jump right in to save you. I love to help people.
As for the Whale being intelligent obviously it was not to bright a animal as the situation it is in says it was unable to avoid a rope? As for noble how can you even say that? Maybe you should look that word up.
I have NO desire to cause unnecessary harm to any animal or person. I do hunt allot and kill animals to eat and for fur I do my best to never let one suffer. However this is a very large WILD animal and while I do not wish it harm I also do not want to spend tax dollars to save it. Now if a private fund is paying the bill then have at it but if tax dollar one is involved then I say no the money I pay in taxes is far to high as it is and the things we pay taxes for go undone like more money for schools, police, fire and ROADS. It has nothing to do with the animal and everything to do with who foots the bill.
Notice I was able to respond without any name calling at all. Nor did I wish you any harm.
My guess is they ( the Coast Guard & Marine Patrol) will help in locating the whale but it will be Allied Whale that untangles it; they might even reimburse the C.G andM.P for helping. As for the whale not being smart enough to avoid the rope, keep that in mind next time you walk through a spiders web, it’s kind of like that.