Whale Entanglement in Fishing Gear: Scale and Solutions

Entanglement in fishing gear is a major source of suffering and mortality for whales globally, requiring coordinated international action on gear design, response protocols and fishing management.

Key Facts

An estimated 300,000 cetaceans die annually from entanglement, with far more suffering sub-lethal injuries
Humpback whales are among the most commonly documented entanglement victims in the North Atlantic
Entanglement causes drowning, starvation, infection and chronic exhaustion - animals can carry gear for months
Ropeless fishing gear (electronic buoy systems) eliminates vertical lines that cause most entanglement
Trained disentanglement teams can safely remove gear from large whales but this is dangerous and not always successful

Welfare Considerations

Whale entanglement represents severe, prolonged suffering at individual level - entangled whales experience exhaustion, wound infections, inability to feed properly, and eventually death in many cases. Even successful disentanglement is preceded by significant suffering and does not repair the underlying damage. The welfare case for addressing entanglement is unambiguous; the challenge is the scale of fisheries and the economic and regulatory complexity of gear modification. Ropeless fishing technology exists and is being tested - the barrier is adoption cost and regulatory requirements rather than technological availability.

What You Can Do

Support organisations developing and testing ropeless fishing technology
Advocate for mandatory ropeless gear in high-risk entanglement areas
Report sightings of entangled marine mammals to disentanglement response networks
Choose seafood from fisheries with documented low entanglement rates and gear modification programmes