NOAA Regional Large Whale Entanglement Response Coordinator Ed Lyman (left) and Petersburg volunteers inspect the net that was attached to the whale on July 29, 2026.
After a few hours, a volunteer group freed a humpback whale that was entangled in a gillnet near Petersburg around 6:30 p.m.
A humpback whale was entangled in a gillnet in the Wrangell Narrows near Petersburg. A local response team on the water said 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 worked with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to coordinate a disentanglement response with 13 volunteers. They asked that the public stay 200 yards away from the whale, which was marked with green buoys. For more information, contact the Entanglement Response Team Coordinator Sadie Wright at 907-957-8147.
This story was first published at kfsk.org and is reprinted here with permission.
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