CAPE COD, Mass. (WWLP) – A right whale was spotted in the Cape Cod bay with more than 200 feet of rope entangled around her on Wednesday.

A team from the Center for Coastal Studies Marine Animal Entanglement Response (MAER) helped remove more than 200 feet of the rope from the right whale but she is still entangled by the rope. The right whale has been identified as #4545, an 8-year-old female that was first seen entangled in February offshore south of Massachusetts.

On Wednesday afternoon, the team was able to remove 200 feet of the thick rope and attached a tracker on the right whale so they could work to remove the rest of the rope at a later date.

“This is obviously a difficult situation. We worked very hard for this whale on Wednesday and she did all she could to avoid us. With the telemetry buoy in place on her entanglement all of our attention will be focused on trying again,” said MAER Director Scott Landry.

Aerial survey teams observe an entangled North Atlantic right whale off Massachusetts on February 9th. Credit: Northeast Fisheries Science Center, taken under NOAA permit #21371

During the last sighting in February, the right whale was seen with the rope coming out of the right side of her mouth and trailing several body lengths behind her. Before February, she was seen entanglement free in July 2022 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada.

She is just one of the roughly 350 remaining right whales in the ocean.