Humpback whale populations have recovered significantly since the whaling ban, but ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear remain major sources of injury, suffering, and death.
Ship strike deaths are typically rapid but may involve blunt trauma injuries that cause prolonged suffering before death. Entanglement is more insidious — whales wrapped in rope and gear experience progressive tissue damage, starvation from inability to feed efficiently, and exhaustion from dragging heavy equipment. Disentanglement operations are dangerous and not always successful. Entangled humpbacks may survive for months in distress before being found. The welfare contrast between humpbacks in open ocean versus those in shipping lanes and fishing areas illustrates how human infrastructure imposes suffering on animals that had no evolutionary preparation for these threats.