A female North Atlantic right whale is entangled in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is the third reported entanglement in the last three months.
According to a news release from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, a Transport Canada aerial surveillance team spotted the whale northeast of the Gaspé Peninsula off Anticosti Island on Wednesday. Experts at the New England Aquarium confirmed the whale is NARW #4040, also known as Chiminea.
Flights will be scheduled to find the whale again and the Marine Mammal Response Program will attempt to disentangle it if weather and sea conditions allow.
“We do not yet know the type of gear that the whale is entangled in or where the gear came from,” the release reads. “Identification of the gear type and its origin are typically only confirmed after investigation and when gear is removed from an animal, when possible.”
A team spotted a whale called Dropcloth entangled in the Gulf on July 27. Another survey team found a whale named Neptune entangled on Aug. 3.