Fin whales visit UK waters seasonally and face welfare threats from ship strikes, noise, and entanglement as the species slowly recovers from whaling.
Fin whales that survive commercial whaling pressure and reach UK waters still face welfare threats from ship strikes and entanglement. Ship strike causes traumatic injury or death and the recovery of fin whale populations means increasing interactions with shipping in their expanding range. Speed restrictions in key fin whale areas would reduce both mortality and welfare harm from non-fatal strikes.