Windy conditions and rough seas are delaying efforts to free a young humpback whale from a tangle of heavy rope wrapped around its mouth and body.

Data from a transmitter attached to lines entangling the 35-foot yearling indicated it was swimming today in waters northwest of L�na�i, said Ed Lyman, marine mammal response manager for the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.
The whale is traveling with its mother and a male escort, making efforts to cut the heavy-gauge propylene line especially tricky, he said.
Lyman said his team caught up with the animal late yesterday afternoon off Launiupoko after its location was reported by a Pacific Whale Foundation vessel. By then, a good portion of the 400 to 500 feet of rope originally seen around the whale apparently had been pulled off when the first transmitter broke free, he said.
A second transmitter was attached yesterday, but Lyman was unable to remove the remaining rope using a knife attached to a pole.
�We lay the knife on its back and just missed cutting the line. The yearling didn�t respond; it stayed smooth but the mother did a little tail flick to give us a little warning maybe,� he said.
Lyman said he is rigging a longer, lighter-weight pole to use when ocean conditions permit further attempts to free the whale.
The entangled whale was first spotted Tuesday by a different Pacific Whale Foundation vessel.
Lyman guessed the whale became entangled while visiting its winter feeding grounds off Alaska. The animal has abrasions on its body and a partially healed chaffing wound behind its blow hole likely caused by a knot in the rope.
Despite the injuries, �this guy right now looks in pretty good health� and should fare well once the line is removed, Lyman said.
An average of six to eight confirmed whale entanglements are reported in Hawai�i each season, he said.