A humpback whale was reported entangled in fishing gear between Lincolnville and Islesboro Tuesday morning, but was not located when authorities responded.
The Maine Marine Patrol sent three boats and an airplane, but was not able to locate the whale and suspended the search pending further sightings after about five hours.
It’s unclear if the whale freed itself, was not entangled in the first place, or if something else happened to the creature.
“Without additional sightings, it would not be productive to speculate,” said Jeff Nichols, the Communications Director for the Maine Department of Marine Resources.
Crew members of the Maine State Ferry that runs between the two towns reported “a humpback whale entangled in lobster gear” on Tuesday morning, a U.S. Coast Guard official told the Midcoast Villager.
The Maine Marine Patrol and authorized marine mammal rescue agencies were alerted.
Whales, like all marine mammals, are protected by federal law and only people authorized by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) may approach or attempt to rescue a stranded whale.
The Maine Marine Patrol has a disentanglement team of members with special training and equipment to handle such cases.
The search for the whale, believed to be a juvenile, began around 9:30 am and was suspended around 2:30 pm, according to Nichols.
The news may impact the long-running dispute between federal regulators, environmentalists and the Maine lobster industry over protections for the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, of which fewer than 370 remain in existence, according to estimates.
NOAA, under pressure from environmental groups, wants to phase out the use of vertical fishing ropes because of their potential to entangle whales.
Maine lobstermen, however, say banning vertical ropes, which allow them to retrieve traps from the ocean floor, would destroy their industry. They maintain that their gear poses no threat to right whales, which they say they almost never encounter in the near-shore waters where they fish. And they say so-called ropeless gear currently under development is nowhere near technological or economic viability.
Last October, officials announced the first-known right whale death connected to Maine lobstering, tracing the entanglement of right whale that washed up on Martha’s Vineyard to gear owned by a Maine lobsterman.
In 2022, the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch, which is used as a guide by major food buyers like Whole Foods and restaurant chains, placed American lobster on its “red list” of species to avoid, citing the potential entanglement threat to North Atlantic right whales.
Maine political leaders in both parties have rallied to defend the lobster industry, saying it is critical to maintaining coastal Maine’s working waterfront.
The Maine Lobsterman’s Association and other industry groups sued Seafood Watch for defamation over the listing. That case is still working its way through the courts, after a federal judge allowed the suit to proceed earlier this year.
This story appears through a media partnership with Midcoast Villager