PORT ANGELES — A grey whale that was tangled in a derelict fishing net in the Strait of Juan de Fuca east of Port Angeles has been freed.
The whale was not injured and swam away as soon as the gear fell away, said Michael Milstein, public affairs officer for the West Coast Regional Office of the Northwest Marine Mammal Stranding Network, today.
A team from the Cascadia Research Collective worked on removing the net from the whale for most of the afternoon, Milstein said.
The state Department of Natural Resources reported to the U.S. Coast Guard this morning that geoduck dive crews saw the trapped whale. The Coast Guard contacted the marine mammal stranding network.
