UPDATE 7:51PM: After a few hours, a volunteer group freed a humpback whale that was entangled in a gillnet near Petersburg around 6:30 p.m.
ORIGINAL STORY:
A humpback whale is entangled in a gillnet in the Wrangell Narrows near Petersburg, and a local response team is on the water with boats. They say the whale is likely two years old and was first spotted yesterday in Frederick Sound, with the net attached to its fluke.
The nonprofit Petersburg Marine Mammal Center is working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to coordinate a disentanglement response with 13 volunteers. They ask that the public stay 200 yards away from the whale, which is marked with green buoys. For more information, contact the Entanglement Response Team Coordinator Sadie Wright at 907-957-8147.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Correction: A previous version of this story had the incorrect number for Sadie Wright.
