Video: Sea Shepherd Launches Viral Video of Whale Captured in Net

BAJA CALIFORNIA, Mexico – February 24, 2016: Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has launched a video of this weekend's rescue of a humpback whale, entangled in an illegal gillnet. The video received over 113,000 views on Facebook after its first day, almost 4,000 shares and hundreds of excited comments from fans. In total, over 543,000 people have been exposed to the video on Facebook. The Sea Shepherd video shows the humpback whale desperately trying to free itself from the net while Sea Shepherd urgently works to save the whale, with assistance from the Mexican Navy.

On Friday, February 19, 2016, the crew of Sea Shepherd's research vessel of R/V Martin Sheen spotted a humpback whale entangled in an illegal gillnet within the Vaquita Refuge in the Gulf of California, Baja California, Mexico. While Captain Oona Layolle, campaign leader and captain of the M/V Farley Mowat, notified the Mexican Navy and the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA), the crew began the rescue operation. The whale was estimated to be 35 feet long and crews from both vessels worked to free the whale by cutting the gillnet off the whale's head and torso.

https://youtu.be/L49AbW3wvJY

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Killer whale pod rallies around orca trapped in fisherman's net

Co-owner of whale-watching firm describes race against time near Port Hardy

By Rhiannon Coppin, CBC News Posted: Aug 23, 2014 3:27 PM PT Last Updated: Aug 23, 2014 7:02 PM PT

A young killer whale is trapped in a fisherman's net. A pod of distressed whales cries out frantically as the youngster struggles to get free. Sightseers aboard a whale-watching boat that arrives to help are stunned at what they see.

"It's a very rare thing," said Nicole Mackay, co-owner of Port McNeill-based Mackay Whale Watching. "I never want to see it again."

While she was out on on the water with customers near Port Hardy Thursday morning, a fisherman radioed Comox coast guard asking for help because a whale had become entangled in his net.

'Watching all this happen was really quite terrifying ...'- Nicole Mackay

The captain of Mackay's boat realized they were very close to the fisherman's location, and they went to assist. They didn't know what to expect, but something they had heard just minutes earlier gave a clue.

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Massive great white shark caught in Sea of Cortez

A great white shark measuring nearly 20 feet and weighing 2,000 pounds -- according to a  local report -- was hauled up Sunday by commercial fishermen in the Sea of Cortez near Guaymas.

The massive predator was dead when it was brought to the surface in a net deployed by fishermen named Guadalupe and Baltazar, who were treated to the surprise of a lifetime when they saw what they had captured.

"We were amazed and immediately realized that we had a huge, dead, great white shark, and then we thought what are we going to do?," Guadalupe told Pisces Sportfishing, which is located in the resort city of Cabo San Lucas.

There is some dispute about the size. If, in fact, it measured six meters (19.8 feet), as Milenio News reported, it'd be one of the longest white sharks ever recorded. Also, if it measured 20 feet, it should weigh a lot more than 2,000 pounds.

Regardless, it's a humongous specimen. The fishermen, who were aboard a 22-foot skiff, towed the behemoth two miles to the beach, where dozens of people helped drag it onto dry sand.

"Guadalupe and Baltazar swore they had never seen a fish this big before in their lives," the Pisces blog stated. "Even though on March 13 of this year, some of their fellow fishermen had also caught a great white, which had weighed 990 pounds."

Adult white sharks were once believed to be rare in the Sea of Cortez, or Gulf of California, but scientists now believe parts of the gulf serve as a nursery for the species.

For more on this story visit GrindTv.com

http://www.petethomasoutdoors.com/2012/04/massive-great-white-shark-caught-in-sea-of-cortez.html