Poor weather conditions have forced a whale rescue team to postpone its bid to disentangle a North Atlantic right whale from fishing gear that is trailing from its head.

The federal Fisheries Department issued a statement late Sunday saying the Campobello Whale Rescue Team was unable to help the 18-year-old whale, which has been tangled in gear in the Gulf of St. Lawrence for at least two weeks.

A team from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration attached a tracker to the whale on Friday.

The endangered animal, known as 3125, was first spotted on July 4 by the crew aboard a Transport Canada aircraft east of Quebec’s Gaspe Peninsula.

Philip Hamilton, who works at the New England Aquarium, says the whale has a rope deeply embedded in its head and over its blow hole.

The Fisheries Department confirmed Friday that two more whales had been found dead, bringing the total number of right whale deaths in Canadian water this year to eight.

Watch: About 10 per cent of fixed fishing gear is lost each year and the design of the gear is leading to some right whales becoming entangled. One innovative company is trying to fix this. Callum Smith has more.

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