Humpback whale entanglement in ghost fishing gear causes prolonged suffering, impairs feeding and migration, and in many cases results in death — making it one of the most visible and preventable large whale welfare harms.
Humpback whale entanglement causes some of the most prolonged and visible individual animal suffering in wildlife. A humpback entangled in trap lines may drag hundreds of meters of rope for months, the weight and drag compromising every aspect of normal life — feeding, migration, reproduction, and social behavior. Wounds where rope cuts into flesh become infected over time. Energy expenditure from drag depletes body condition that cannot be replenished when feeding is impaired. Disentanglement by trained teams can end this suffering, but the welfare benefit is only as durable as the fishing practices that created the entanglement — without gear modification or retrieval of ghost gear, the same individual or others face the same risk repeatedly. Ropeless fishing technology addresses the structural cause and represents the most meaningful long-term welfare intervention for large whale entanglement.