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Blue Whale Disentanglement Effort Suspended Until Saturday Morning

CATALINA CHANNEL (CBSLA.com) — Authorities on Friday evening said they would continue their efforts to free a blue whale that was caught in a buoy line off the coast of San Pedro on Saturday morning.

The whale -- one of roughly 2,000 blue whales found off the California coast -- was first spotted by a whale watching boat at about 1:30 p.m., towing a fishing line connected to a red buoy.

Aerial footage from Sky9 showed the leviathan -- estimated to be 75 feet long -- surfacing about 10 miles off the coast and then diving below the surface, taking the red buoy underwater, too. The line was estimated to be about 200 feet long.

Wildlife experts said the buoy could interfere with the whale's ability to dive below the surface and feed on krill.

Around 5 p.m., lifeguards ferried marine animal rescuers to the whale in a 10-foot dinghy.

The rescuers tied a second, larger buoy to the buoy line to more easily keep tabs on the whale.

Rescuers hoped to cut the line with a lance, but were not able to complete their mission before conditions became dangerous and the sun began to set.

Authorities are asking any boaters who see the entangled whale on Saturday morning to notify the Coast Guard.

(©2015 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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