Humpback whale populations have recovered dramatically following the end of commercial whaling, but entanglement, ship strikes, and climate change continue to cause welfare harm to individual whales.
Individual humpback whales that become entangled in fishing gear experience prolonged welfare harm that can extend for weeks or months. Rope entanglement around the body causes lacerations that become infected, and the drag of gear causes chronic exhaustion that prevents normal foraging. Some whales swim thousands of kilometres entangled before dying or being freed by disentanglement teams. Ship strikes cause blunt force trauma and propeller injuries that are often fatal. Climate change is altering prey distribution, requiring whales to forage in areas with higher fisheries interaction rates. Support for disentanglement capacity and whale-safe fishing gear design directly reduces individual whale suffering.