Fader the humpback has been coming back to British Columbia’s waters for the last two decades, but this time the whale was spotted with something extra — more than 130 metres of rope and fishing gear.

The whale entangled was first sighted Sunday in the Strait of Georgia by two vessels operated by Vancouver Island Whale Watch.

Cheyenne Brewster, a spokeswoman for Nanaimo-based company, said the boats encountered a pair of humpbacks during a regular boat tour.

As people on the vessels started taking photos, they noticed that one of the whales had an orange float trailing behind it, she said.

The entangled whale was later identified as Fader, while its companion is known to researchers as Wiggins, Brewster said.

Brewster said they contacted federal officials immediately, and the vessels

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