NOAA Fisheries Image Gallery

NOAA’s Operation Breakthrough Team

Picture by: Dave Withrow Picture taken on: February 1st, 1988

Tags: operation breakthrough gray whale rescue Alaska 1988

Rescue team members, Mark Fraker (left, oil company); NOAA’s Dave Withrow (center) and Jim Harvey (right). They are just a few members of the rescue team responding to three gray whales trapped by sea ice outside of Barrow, Alaska in 1988. The famous rescue inspired a film, released in February 2012. This photo was scanned from slides at the National Marine Mammal Lab in Seattle.

Related Story: NOAA’s Operation Breakthrough Team