Skip to content
All articles
  • All articles
  • About whales & dolphins
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Fundraising
  • Green Whale
  • Prevent bycatch
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Stop whaling
IMG_6030

Meet the 2023 Interns: Thomas Zoutis

I'm happy to introduce WDC's first Marine Mammal Conservation Intern of the year, Thomas Zoutis!...
MicrosoftTeams-image (9)

Double Your Impact for Marine Animal Rescue & Response

On a chilly day this past December, the WDC North America team celebrated the first...
20230126_091707

WDC’s Education Wishlist = Cleared!

To the WDC Community, I want to thank you so much for your support of...
Hysazu Photography

Looking forward for Southern Resident orcas in 2023

Hysazu Photography 2022 was a big year for Southern Resident orcas - 2022 brought the...
Credit: Seacoast Science Center

The Unlikely Adventure of Shoebert, a Young Grey Seal Who Visited an Industrial Park Pond

Credit: Seacoast Science Center In mid-September, our stranding partners in northern Massachusetts were inundated with...
Leaping harbour porpoise

The power of harbour porpoise poo

We know we need to save the whale to save the world. Now we are...
Right whale - Regina WDC

Whale and Dolphin Conservation: Change Through Policy.

WDC focuses on education, research, conservation projects, and policy work to create a sustainable future...
Clear the list graphic

Clear WDC’s Amazon Wishlist for Giving Tuesday

UPDATE: We are thrilled to report that everything was donated off of our Amazon Wishlist...

Size does matter for entangled whales but study finds that bigger is not necessarily stronger

Humpback whale with entanglement

Entanglements in fishing gear may be one of the single largest threats faced by whales and dolphins globally.  Referred to as “bycatch” because these interactions are incidental, not intentional, these interactions number in the hundreds of thousands each year. While some whales and dolphins escape with only scars as evidence, including all nine of WDC’s Whale Adoption Project humpbacks, an unknown number drown, starve to death, or die from a resulting systemic infection as the gear literally saws into their flesh. The risk of any single piece of fishing gear entangling a whale or dolphin is low but the risk of a whale or dolphin becoming entangled is high. For critically endangered species like the North Atlantic right whale or the vaquita, accidentally blundering into fishing gear brings can bring them one step closer to extinction.  

As part of several United States federally appointed Take Reduction Teams, WDC is working to create measures that reduce the risk of entanglements.  However, to create management plans that are effective, it is important to better understand the risk.  A recent study by researchers at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington and the Smithsonian Institute have looked at whale bones from museums and stranded species to measure just how much force a whale’s tail needs to pull the individual out of entangling gear.  The surprising results show that strength is not necessarily proportional to size.  Understanding that larger whales are not necessarily stronger than their smaller counterparts is enormously important when considering the breaking strength of lines used in various types of fishing industries. 

Although these data are invaluable, it is important to remember that entanglements involve living whales and dolphins so behavior is also a significant factor to consider.  It appears that, at least in some cases, whales will actually roll into the gear, rather than pull away from it.  Taking this “path of least resistance” may make sense to the whale at the time by reducing the pressure they feel from the gear, but it ultimately exacerbates the entanglement.  In that case, even a relatively weak piece of line can be fatal. 

There is no simple answer to this complex problem but data like those presented in this study provide valuable insight. 

If you’d like to help our work to reduce the threat of bycatch to whales and dolphins, please consider adopting one of our “survivors”.  As always, thank you for helping us work toward a world where every whale and dolphin is safe and free.