Tangled OC Whale, Spotted Off Monterey County

June the whale, which last week made news when it was discovered to be tangled in fishing line off the Orange County coast, has been spotted off the coast of Monterey County near the town of Gorda.

The whale was spotted around 8 a.m. by a private citizen who reported seeing it 400 feet off the coast with several attached buoys, and "swimming slower and breathing more often than other whales in the area," according to Monica DeAngelis, a marine biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service in Long Beach.

"The whale is still entangled, but we're not sure yet about the nature or how much work would need to be done to attempt any further disentangling," DeAngelis tells Patch.

"We're getting folks together now and forming a team so we'll have people on standby once we asses the situation," says DeAngelis. "It's a risky area to put a rescue boat in, so the team will head out once it's determined that it is safe for them."

DeAngelis added that it was a good sign that the whale is heading northward along its seasonal migratory path.

Three gray whales have been tangled in fishing net off the Orange County Coast line over the last month - one of them was freed but is the same whale believed to have washed up in Seal Beach.