This is the second whale found entangled in the Monterey Bay in the past week.

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Unfortunately, a prediction made by Monterey Bay whale experts earlier this week came true.Five days after a humpback whale was found tangled with a 300-pound crab trap and rope, a second whale was found snared with a crabpot, Whale Entanglement Team leader Pieter Folkens said. That's exactly what Monterey Bay Marine Life Studies whale experts predicted would happen this month because the humpback migration from Mexico to California's Central Coast began a few weeks early this year. Crabbing season is also underway, so humpback swimming through the Monterey Bay are overlapping longer with crab season.The second distressed humpback is in much worse shape than the first, Folkens said. It's about 12 miles offshore from the Monterey Bay and was found Thursday by a Marine Life Studies research vessel.Blue steal rope wrapped around the whale's upper body three times and damaged at least one of its flippers, Folkens said. The 45-foot-long whale is also listing to its right side. Rescuers are very worried that the whale will drown.The first, smaller tangled whale was spotted last Sunday, a boat full of whale-watchers noticed one humpback had bright buoys following it wherever it went. The whale was in a life-threatening situation because a rope had become wrapped around its tail and a 300-pound crabpot was attached to it.A Whale Entanglement Team of NOAA officials and marine biologists was dispatched and rescuers managed to cut the majority of rope and free the whale from the crabpot. While they were cutting the rope, three other humpback whales swam up to the troubled whale, seemingly to check on its well-being.As of Friday afternoon, the whale was feeding, swimming at a normal speed, and behaving normally off the coast of Point Sur in Big Sur, Folkens said. The team can easily track the whale because they put a satellite tracker on it. When it moves closer to shore and swims into calmer water, the team plans to cut the remaining rope and completely free the humpback.Rescuers, however, were unsure where the second whale was on Friday, and they are not sure if they will be able to free it before the majestic marine mammal dies. Any rescue efforts will depend on weather and ocean conditions.Marine Life Studies researcher Peggy Stap found the first distressed whale, and she stayed out on a boat trying to find the second whale until sunset Friday."Every whale is important," Stap said.PHOTOS: Humpbacks and other whales in the Monterey Bay