The whale was first spotted about a week ago by a whale watchers team.
Photos show the humpback with a rope extending from its mouth and wrapped around its fin.
"We realized at that moment that, 'Oh my goodness, it was entangled,'" said Jessica Rodriguez, the Education and Communications Manager with Newport Landing and Davey's Locker Whale Watching. "Our whale watching boats alerted NOAA and the disentanglement team came onto the scene attempted to disentangle the whale that day."
However, they couldn't do it.
"It's like right here around the shoulder area," she said. "It's wrapped through the mouth. It's a really difficult entanglement to undo on the whale."
Rodriguez said the entanglement team would need to cut the rope near the whale's eye to set it free, but that poses danger. The agitated humpback could hit them with its tail or flipper.
"It's really heart-wrenching to see this taking place, and all the disengagement team wants to do is successfully release the animal," she said.
Rodriguez said the humpback hasn't been seen since then, but said they're keeping a close eye out for it.
A drone operator captured footage of the whale as well.
"When I was reviewing the footage, I noticed a rope was its mouth and went all the way around the side of its body, and it appeared to be fishing ropes," said Mauricio Tassara, a drone pilot for Empty Drone.
Rodriguez said the whale is likely a few years old and easily over 40-feet long, weighing nearly 60,000 pounds. She said when whales become entangled in ropes, they often will breach to help free themselves.
Fall is a popular time of the year for whale watching. There's been an unusually high number of humpbacks spotted in the area this year.