NEW YORK – The Coast Guard Cutter Penobscot Bay will remain overnight to enforce a 500-yard safety zone around a humpback whale entangled in a lobster pot and netting eight miles east of Sandy Hook near the approach to Ambrose Channel.
An entanglement team from Center Coastal Studies based in Glouchester, Mass., is scheduled to arrive tomorrow to cut the whale free. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will continue to monitor the situation.
“It will be very hard for vessel masters to see the whale at night,” said Lt. Brandon Link, Coast Guard Sector New York’s command duty officer. “We want to make sure that no vessel traffic endangers itself or the animal by getting too close.”
For more information regarding marine mammal stranding and entanglement, visit the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program (MMHSRP) website at: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/health/
