Entanglement in fishing gear is a leading cause of injury and mortality for large whales globally, and disentanglement operations balance urgent animal welfare needs with significant risks.
A large whale entangled in fishing gear faces prolonged, progressive suffering. The cutting of ropes into flesh, the drag of gear impeding swimming and foraging, the impossible effort of breathing with constrained movement - these cause weeks or months of mounting pain and debilitation before death. Disentanglement teams provide direct, immediate welfare relief in individual cases. But the scale of the problem - thousands of whales entangled annually - demands systemic solutions: transition to ropeless fishing gear in critical habitat, seasonal fishing restrictions during whale presence, and mandatory use of weak links in gear that break before whales become fully entangled.