The number of massive whales dangerously caught up in fishing gear could be reduced by three quarters, if the industry agrees to adopt weaker ropes as standard.
The calculations and recommendations have been published in the journal Conservation Biology, following a string of whale entanglements reported over June and July -- from June, one humpback whale was inadvertently caught up off the British Columbia coast every week for six weeks. In a warning about the dangers, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) suggests some 308,000 whales and dolphins die every year as a result of entanglement in fishing gear, which leads to drowning, cuts, infections and starvation. While the IWC is responding by building a team that can act as emergency entanglement responders, the team behind the Conservation Biology paper is presenting a preventative solution: reduce the 'breaking strengths' of ropes used in fishing gear to 1,700 pounds.
By: Liat Clark,
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