Entanglement in fishing nets, lines, and other gear kills millions of animals annually across all major animal groups, from seabirds to whales to turtles.
Entangled animals experience distress, physical injury, and prolonged death. Cetaceans that surface to breathe while entangled face drowning as their ability to surface becomes restricted. Animals that escape entanglement may carry gear that causes progressive injury over months. Ghost gear that sinks continues catching and killing without any human awareness. The welfare scale of entanglement mortality is enormous, affecting species from the most endangered whales to the most common seabirds.