Humpback whales are recovering in many ocean basins but face increasing entanglement in fishing gear as their range overlaps with coastal fisheries.
Humpback whales entangled in crab pot lines, gillnets, and other fishing gear may carry rope wrapped around flippers, tails, and mouths for months causing progressive injury, infection, and starvation. Animals with mouth entanglement cannot feed and lose body condition progressively. Entanglement causes direct injury from rope cuts and secondary infections. Disentanglement operations are dangerous for responders and stressful for whales but have saved many animals from slow death. Ghost gear that continues fishing after loss causes ongoing entanglement mortality with no active fishery to engage with.