B.C. fisheries officers rescue trapped whale

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has released footage of a humpback whale rescue off the B.C. coast earlier this month.

The DFO received a call about a whale tangled in prawn traps in the Knight Inlet on the morning of June 10.

Fishery officers Joe Humphries, Greg Plummer and Paul Cottrell discovered the humpback whale caught in 50 prawn traps and gear, weighing around 600 lbs.

Cottrell is a Marine Mammal Coordinator with special whale disentanglement training.

Officers spent two hours removing the trap lines, before finally freeing the young whale.

The public can report sick, injured, distressed or deceased marine mammals to the Marine Mammal Incident Reporting Hotline at 1-800-465-4336.

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  B.C. Department of Fisheries and Oceans marine mammals officers work to free a tangled humpback whale on June 10, 2009. (DFO)

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  It took DFO officers about two hours to remove the 600 lbs. of gear from the trapped whale. (DFO)