HONOLULU -- A juvenile humpback whale is tangled up in several hundred feet of rope somewhere in the channel between Maui and Molokai.

The Marine Mammal Response team with the National Marine Sanctuary assessed the situation and determined sea conditions were too rough to attempt a rescue. So, they attached a transmitter on a buoy and are tracking the whale's location.

The whale has hundreds of feet of line trailing it, officials said.

When ocean conditions allow, the whale rescue team will likely use a detachable knife on a long pole to free the whale of the line. They have done it successfully several times already with other whales.

Boaters are being warned to stay clear of the entangled whale if they see it, not just for the whale's safety, but also because boat propellers could caught in the rope.

The whale is 30- to 35-feet long. It probably picked up the derelict gear somewhere between Alaska and Hawaii and is struggling at this point, officials said.