A juvenile gray whale got entangled in lines of fishing gear off the Washington coast, the U.S. Coast Guard reported Tuesday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Coast Guard are responding to the whale, which is entangled about 15 miles west of La Push, Wash.
The Coast Guard initially reported that a humpback whale was entangled.
This is at least the third entangled whale sighting since the beginning of April. A gray whale entangled in fishing gear was spotted about 25 miles north of Seattle on April 13, and another entangled gray whale washed ashore earlier in April.
Entanglement is the leading cause of whale deaths, with 300,000 reported annually. The issue is most often linked to active fishing gear, such as crab pots. Researchers estimate that 85 percent of humpback whales are currently tangled, or have been before, based on scars.
