``We get entanglements every year so it's not atypical... But it's not usual to get so many at one time. It's just been crazy.''

Marine biologists are hoping they can free one of the few remaining female North Atlantic right whales from a length of thick fishing rope that has become wrapped around its upper jaw.

Staff members at the Pacific Region Fisheries and Oceans Canada say they are frantically searching for a juvenile humpback whale last seen off the coast of Tofino.