Humpback whales become entangled in fishing gear worldwide, causing prolonged suffering. Rescue operations and gear modifications reduce this welfare problem at significant scale.
Humpback whale entanglement causes some of the most prolonged and severe individual animal suffering recorded in wildlife welfare. Fishing lines wrap around flippers, jaws, and bodies, cutting progressively deeper as the whale moves and grows. The stress and injury accumulate over days to months — entangled whales are observed with severe wounds, exhaustion from carrying gear drag, and in some cases inability to feed. Disentanglement operations — requiring expert teams approaching large whales at sea to cut lines carefully without causing further injury — are dangerous for both rescuers and animals. Even successful disentanglement leaves whales injured and stressed. Prevention is the welfare-optimal solution: acoustic pingers that warn cetaceans away from gear, weak links that break under whale force, and ropeless gear systems that eliminate surface lines in critical migration and feeding areas. Consumer pressure on the seafood industry to adopt these technologies is growing.