Page 4 - Michael Fishbach News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Finger or toe, in that net when the whale decides to go down and breathe. >> watch out, watch out, watch out. >> hold it. grab that. grab that tight. grab that tight. >> the three men remain clear of the net and after about an hour of work, the group has managed to free most of the whale. with the whale becoming more active, it looks like it's time to make the final cut. >> so close. >> did you get it? >> see? >> yeah! >> yeah! >> as the whale slowly swims away, it's a moment to celebrate. [ laughter ] >> we saved a humpback whale. >> fishbach says this wouldn't have been possible if they hadn...

George who continues to cut where he can. >> you've got to cut everything you can. >> fishbach and the boat's captain, alberto, haul the excess net aboard, holding tight, and repositioning the boat with a paddle whenever the whale shifts in the water. >> we were just grabbing and pulling and cutting and in the context of our cutting, things were getting freed and loose. >> they managed to free one of the whale's pectoral fins, which can be seen momentarily jutting out of the water. no longer completely immobile, but still attached to the net on the boat, the whale begins to swim. >> we're bein...

Dangerous place to be working. >> conservationist michael fishbach is the codirector of the great whale conservancy. he travels to mexico sea of cortez for two months every winter to photograph and observe some of the largest animals in the world, blue, fin, and humpback whales. on february 14th, 2011, he's out on the water with his wife heather watrous, 5-year-old son galen, and friends, george and whitney brazington. they're headed for a beach when he sees something in the distance. >> it looked to me sort of like part of a tree trunk floating in the desert where there are no large tree trun...

Start to see floats on the water that were part of a net. >> the group discovered that tangled in that net is a young humpback whale. >> i was pretty convinced that it was dead because we did not see an ounce of movement. nothing. >> but then a breath. the humpback is alive, but unable to move. >> i could see that this whale was horribly, horribly entangled. just like in a straight jacket. 19 years on the water i've never seen anything like this. you have to make a decision. are you going to try to intervene yourself? physically intervening, certainly, carries a risk. >> fishbach and the group...

Hold it. hold it. grab that tight. grab that tight. >> the three men remain clear of the net, and after about an hour of work, the group has managed to free most of the whale. with the whale becoming more active, it looks like it's time to make the final cut. >> so close. >> did you get it? >> see? >> yeah! >> yeah! >> as the whale slowly swims away, it's a moment to celebrate. [ laughter ] >> we saved a humpback whale. >> hell, yeah. >> fishbach says this wouldn't have been possible if they hadn't intervened when they did. >> there's no question about the fact this whale would have died. it w...