Marine Mammal Bycatch Welfare | Animal Welfare Hub

Marine mammal bycatch in commercial fishing gear causes significant suffering and death across hundreds of thousands of individuals annually.

Key Facts

An estimated 650,000 marine mammals are killed or seriously injured in fishing gear each year
Harbor porpoises and common dolphins are among the most frequently bycaught cetaceans in European waters
Sea lions and fur seals in trawl and longline fisheries face significant bycatch mortality in the Pacific
Acoustic pingers reduce cetacean bycatch in gillnet fisheries by 50-90% in most studied contexts
Entanglement in lobster pot lines is a leading cause of North Atlantic right whale mortality

Welfare Considerations

Marine mammal bycatch involves both welfare and conservation consequences. Cetaceans, pinnipeds, and sea otters caught in fishing gear may drown (cetaceans requiring air surfacing), suffer injuries from hooks or entanglement, or be subject to prolonged struggling before death. The welfare implications of each bycatch event — fear, pain, injury, drowning — are severe. At population scale, bycatch mortality drives several species toward extinction (vaquita, North Atlantic right whale). Solutions include: acoustic pingers, seasonal closures in critical habitat, gear modification (weak links in lobster lines), and observer programs for monitoring. Consumer-facing seafood certification should increasingly include marine mammal bycatch criteria as a welfare and conservation measure.

What You Can Do

Choose seafood certified from fisheries with verified marine mammal bycatch reduction programs
Support legislation requiring pinger use in gillnet fisheries operating near marine mammal habitat
Donate to organizations monitoring and reducing marine mammal entanglement
Advocate for Marine Protected Areas in critical cetacean habitat to eliminate fishing gear risk
Contact seafood companies asking about their marine mammal bycatch policies