A 15-foot minke whale remained tangled in fishing gear for three days. But good news is that the Center for Coastal Studies Marine Animal Entanglement Response has rescued the whale 40 miles south of Martha's Vineyard on Sunday.

The whale was first time spotted in the entangled condition on July 3 in afternoon by a passing mariner. At that time, the whale was floating on water surface and its lower jaw was trapped with rope, which was attached to a fishing gear at the sea floor’s bottom.

The rescue response got delayed due to poor weather conditions in the area. On Sunday, the entanglement response team started working to free the whale. Using a small inflatable boat, the team freed the whale. They used a control rope on the entangling gear and a hook-shaped knife at the end of a long pole.

The whale has suffered minor injuries, but as soon as it got free it swam away. Experts said that the whale will get fine soon. Responder Jenn Tackaberry said, “I think the whale is probably doing well today; it may be a little sore from being entangled for so many days, but overall it looked to be in good condition once we released it”.

Minke whales come at the second position when it comes to smallest baleen whales. In them, the males are 23 feet and females 26 feet in length. They can be commonly spotted at off the coast of New England. These whales can remain submerged for 20 minutes.