How we can all stop killing whales: a proposal to avoid whale
entanglement in fishing gear
ICES Journal of Marine Science,
fsy194,https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsy194
https://academic.oup.com/icesjms/advance-article/doi/10.1093/icesjms/fsy194/5288134
Abstract
Whales are federally protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act;
endangered species, such as the North Atlantic right whale, receive
additional protection under the Endangered Species Act. However, their
regulations have failed to satisfy conservation and animal welfare
concerns. From 1990 to 2011 the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena
glacialis, NARW) population grew at a mean of 2.8% annually. However,
population trends reversed since 2011; the species is in decline, with
only ∼100 reproductively active females remaining. This failure is
driven by vessel collisions and increasingly fatal and serious
entanglement in fixed fishing gear, whose rope strength has increased
substantially. Chronic entanglement, drag, and associated morbidity have
been linked to poor fecundity. Genuine solutions involve designating
areas to be avoided and speed restrictions for ships and removing
fishing trap ropes from the water column. A trap fishing closure for
NARW habitat in the Cape Cod Bay (U.S.) area has been in place
seasonally since 2015. 2017 mortalities in Eastern Canada elicited
substantive management changes whereby the 2018 presence of NARW in
active trap fishing areas resulted in an effective closure. To avoid
these costly closures, the traditional trap fishery model of rope end
lines attached to surface marker buoys has to be modified so that traps
are marked virtually, and retrieved with gear that does not remain in
the water column except during trap retrieval. Consumer demand for
genuinely whale-safe products will augment and encourage the necessary
regulatory changes so that trap fisheries conserve target and non target
species.
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Michael Moore
Biology Department
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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