NOAA Fisheries has released preliminary data showing that, off the US West Coast in 2024, fishing gear has entangled more whales than in any other year since 2018.
Right after the data was released, whale watchers spotted another entangled humpback near Orange County, California.
Center for Biological Diversity attorney Catherine Kilduff said:
“It’s completely unacceptable that so many whales are still becoming entangled after a decade of attention to this awful problem. Pop-up fishing gear is a win-win solution, and agencies should authorize its use immediately. Whales trying to survive while wrapped up in fishing rope face an absolutely brutal challenge, and entanglements can cause fin amputations, wounds, and painfully slow deaths.”
Most of the entangled whales were humpbacks, with 29 confirmed reports, along with reports of four gray whales and one fin whale. NOAA has only been able to trace 17 of the entanglements to a specific fishery, and most of those – 12 – were from the commercial Dungeness crab fishery.
The bulk of the entanglements were reported in California, with 23, but they occurred all along the Pacific coast. Five were in Washington, four in Oregon, and one each reported in Canada and Mexico, with both whales carrying US gear.
