Diver Rescues Rare Northern Right Whale Off Virginia Beach Coast [VIDEO]

A rare, northern right whale entangled in a fishing line was rescued off the coast of Virginia Beach by two local fishermen on a chartered boat .

Local fishermen Captain Pat Foster and his shipmate Adrian Colaprete, who were aboard the Wave Runner Charter boast based out of Rudee Inlet, were helping a team of scientists conduct research  about 50 miles offshore. It was then that Pat noticed the ensnared whale and decided to have a closer look. On approaching closer to the site, the team aboard identified the cetacean as an endangered species of Northern Right Whale and noticed that it was in danger. It was entangled in fishing ropes and struggling and dragging the fishing gear along with it, reports The Wild Lyfe.

Colaprete got into the water and swam up to the whale and cut off the rope ensnaring the whale. Colaprete, an experienced free diver, carried a waterproof camera in one hand and a knife in the other. On cutting one of the trailing lines the whale slipped free and swam away free.

"It was almost like a submarine coming at me," Colaprete said of his encounter with the whale. "It was kind of scary at first, but it was real trippy as soon the whale passed me and I was parallel to its face and its eye, it kind of stopped and then gave me a little window to get down there and make the cut," Colaprete said.

Data according to NOAA Fisheries states that right whales are large baleen whales that live for at least 50 years. They are skimmers and feed by removing prey from water. Since 1973 they have been listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.