Heartbreak struck environmentally conscious Hawaiian residents as a humpback whale calf entangled in netting was spotted just off the coast of Oahu.

What's happening?

Hawaii News Report spotted the entangled humpback calf about a mile off the north shore of Oahu. The media company took to Instagram, pleading, "We need help ASAP!"

The post blew up, with environmentalists everywhere trying to raise awareness for the calf. According to For the Win, Shark researcher and Hawaiian resident Michael Domeier re-shared the footage and said, "This is heartbreaking… hopefully the NOAA team can free it from the net (if they still have a job)."

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was contacted but was unable to fully remove the netting.

This is, unfortunately, not a rare occurrence. The NOAA has a disengagement team that is often called upon for situations like this, but due to how dangerous an endeavor it is, missions tend to be unsuccessful. 

Why is animal entanglement important?

The upsetting scene just off the coast of Oahu is not an unusual sight. Due to human waste, marine animals everywhere are often in danger of becoming entangled in netting and other litter that is floating in the ocean.

These tragedies often result in the marine animal getting infections, restricted movement, and often lead to death.

Not only do the entangled animals suffer, but the surrounding ecosystem does as well. 

Marine animals, like whales, play a large part in regulating the food chain and maintaining a healthy marine environment. The loss or reduction of these animals disrupts ecological balance.

Entanglement also contributes to a decline in marine biodiversity. As marine animals continue to get their lives cut short, the resilience of ecosystems to adapt to the changing climate weakens.

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What's being done about animal entanglement?

Fully cleaning our oceans of materials that threaten to entangle marine life is an impossible task. However, NOAA has created the Large Whale Entanglement Response Network in order to get disentanglement teams out to emergencies as fast as possible.

As far as what we can do, efforts to recycle and avoid littering and other waste as much as possible continue to be on the rise. 

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