After a tense week of waiting and watching, a team of rescue specialists freed a 45-foot humpback whale from hundreds of feet of heavy-gauge fishing line that had wrapped around its tail.

The daring rescue took place Friday afternoon in waters off Maalaea Harbor on Maui.

An onshore witness first spotted the entangled whale Feb. 13 off the Hamakua coastline, about 45 miles northwest of Hilo.

The whale was next sighted two days later as it traveled along the leeward coast of Hawaii island, at which point members of the West Hawaii Marine Mammal Response Network mobilized to assess the animal and attach a transmitter package to a section of the trailing fishing line.

The whale circled Hawaii island over the next four days before crossing Alenuihaha Channel to the south shore of Maui on Thursday.

A rescue team left Maalaea Harbor the following morning aboard the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary vessel Kohola and used the tracking gear that was attached to the fishing line to locate the whale.

An inflatable boat was used to reach the 40-ton whale and kegging buoys were attached to the trailing line to slow the whale and keep it close to the surface.

Rescuers then used a specialized knife attached to a long pole to cut away the heavy line from the whale’s tale. The line was recovered and brought back to the boat.

The whale was observed swimming away free of all entanglements.