Entanglement in fishing gear is a major welfare threat to humpback whales globally, with disentanglement teams providing critical welfare interventions.
Entanglement in fishing gear causes some of the most prolonged and severe suffering experienced by any individual wild animal. Whales can struggle for weeks or months, progressively weakening as gear cuts through flesh and restricts movement. Disentanglement teams provide direct welfare interventions for individual animals while policy changes to reduce entanglement are essential for population-level welfare.