The Whale Release and Strandings Group was involved in freeing an entangled whale that nearly pulled a fishing vessel under.

Julie Huntington told VOCM Open Line with Brian Callahan that they were called by the crew of a crab boat near the Narrows that got caught between a whale and the gear it was towing.

She describes it as a very tense situation.

Huntington says the crew was able to get clear of the gear by letting go of the vessel’s stabilizer.

“The boat started twirling around and the crew was fast-thinking and they had to release the stabilizer…and chain into the ocean to get clear of that whale.”

She says the job of freeing the whale from the gear it was towing took several hours, and was complicated by another whale which was nearby.

“And that whale didn’t appear to be a danger, but it kept rolling over and showing us its tail fin and just letting us know that it was nearby.”