A blue whale that was spotted last week entangled in fishing wire off the coast of San Pedro, Calif., was seen in waters south of Mexico, with the netting and a red buoy still attached, officials said on Monday.
The U.S. Coast Guard said a boat reported seeing the elusive marine mammal tangled in fishing line near the Coronado Islands, off the coast of Mexico, more than 100 miles south of where the whale was last spotted on Friday, according to Jim Milbury, a spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), according to Reuters.
"We believe this is the same whale that was entangled off Palos Verdes," Milbury said. "The description fits."
The U.S. Coast Guard, the NOAA and a whale rescue expert attempted to rescue the creature after it was seen towing hundreds of feet of fishing line near Palos Verdes, south of Los Angeles, but lost track of it the following day after rescue efforts were halted at nightfall, as HNGN previously reported.
U.S. rescue teams are not permitted to work in those waters but are in touch with Mexican authorities, but the giant mammal would have to swim further south in order to help.
"There's not much we can do unless the whale turns north and comes back up," said Milbury, according to The Associated Press.
