Rescued whale found dead outside Manhattan Beach
A gray whale that was rescued off the coast of Manhattan Beach three weeks ago was found dead four hundred yards off shore in San Pedro last week.
Peter Wallerstein, director of Marine Animal Rescue, said that he was saddened about the death of the 20-foot whale, which he helped detangle from a rope line earlier this month.
Although Wallerstein and his partner were able to remove the line tangled around the whale’s fluke, Wallerstein said he had been concerned about the emaciated whale’s health when it was released. He said that Marine Animal Rescue and the L.A. County Lifeguards were continuing to monitor the whale’s health while it was in the area.
“We kind of knew it from the start and our purpose was to relieve one deadly threat,” he said, referring to the rope line.
He said he thinks the rope line most likely came from a fishing net or a crab line. When whales swim through such lines, they can become partially entangled in the line and drag it with them.
Walletstein said that although the state is working on laws about where fishing nets can legally be dropped into the ocean, sometimes whales swim in from international waters trailing rope lines.
“We’re doing the best we can locally,” Wallerstein said.
“We’re saddened but we did what was within our abilities,” he said. ER