ST. SIMONS ISLAND - Scientists from the New England Aquarium and the state of Georgia attempted Tuesday to find and rescue a 45-foot right whale that was entangled in lobster lines in the South Atlantic. <br>
<br>
The whale was seen about 14 miles off the north shore of St. Simons Island about 11 a.m. Tuesday, said Scott Kraus, who is the Boston-based aquarium's director of research and the chief scientist for the Right Whale Project. <br>
<br>
The whale project tracks the creatures, which number only about 325, as they migrate between summer feeding grounds of the northern Atlantic and winter calving areas off the coast of Georgia and Florida. <br>
<br>
Kraus said the full-grown, 40-ton male known as Polaris, which has been followed by researchers since its birth in 1984, was first reported in trouble July 12 off the New Jersey shore. <br>
<br>
Whale researchers were able to put a satellite transmitter on him but did not have the team or the equipment to untangle the lobster lines. On July 19, some of the lines were cut off, along with the transmitter, by a charter boat captain off Cape Hatteras, N.C. <br>
<br>
Researchers from the New England Aquarium, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the Center for Coastal Studies are hoping to find Polaris again and send out a disentanglement team. <br>
<br>
The scientists are concerned that Polaris has been heading south, because the whales are much farther to the north this time of year. <br>
<br>
``It's a complete mystery,'' Kraus said. ``It's going in waters now that are warmer than they can stand.'' <br>
<br>
By the end of March, the whales have usually begun migrating as far north as Newfoundland. They return to Georgia usually in November and December. <br>
<br>
The distinguishing marks of Northern Atlantic right whales are a series of white bumps, or callosities, on the head. They don't have a dorsal fin, but do have two blowholes. <br>
<br>
Whalers who considered them the ``right'' whale to hunt since they are slow swimmers, and float when dead.
