New Project Will Tackle Whale Entanglement

Many whale species are still declining, despite an international ban on commercial whaling, because of losses to bycatch.

(Photo courtesy National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

The global response network will provide
scientific expertise to regions of the world
where cetaceans are in crisis to help reduce
bycatch. It will also play an advisory role
to fisheries and governments, provide
training and promote research and outreach.
A new website launched Tuesday,
http://www.cetaceanbycatch.org/,
will serve as a virtual resource center for
scientists to collaborate and share their
expertise with each other and with
governments and fishermen that request assistance.

"In releasing this call to action, we are urging governments worldwide to address this issue as part of their fisheries management," said Andy Rosenberg, co-chair of the Cetacean Bycatch Action Network and dean of the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture at the University of New Hampshire.

"The United States has made some progress in mitigating bycatch, but we need to show more leadership by helping solve this problem worldwide and continuing to improve our own track record," Rosenberg added.

Whales and dolphins can become entangled in commonly used
fishing gear like gillnets, tangle nets, trammel nets, trawl nets
and long lines. Solutions to the problem of entanglement vary
by region and species involved, but can include adding gillnet
floats that break away when hit by a whale, acoustic "pingers"
that warn marine mammals away from nets and buoy lines that
are less likely to snare whales and dolphins.

A gillnetter sets a net off the coast of Alaska. Gillnets, among the
most widespread of fishing gear, are believed to be
responsible for much of global cetacean bycatch. Many experts
argue that wherever there are gillnets, there is cetacean bycatch.

(Photo courtesy National Marine Fisheries Service)

Setting nets in deeper water, an inexpensive and simple strategy, can also help to reduce bycatch in some cases. Commercial fishers have been crucial in developing these successful gear modifications, the scientists noted.
When caught in fishing gear, small whales, dolphins and porpoises often die because they are not strong enough to break free and come to the surface to breathe. Large whales can usually break free, but may continue to tow some of the gear for long periods, causing injuries and sometimes death.

Last year, biologists spent months trying to save the life of endangered northern right whale that had developed a massive infection in a wound across its upper jaw, caused by synthetic marine line that cut deeply into the tissue. Researchers lost the signal from a satellite transmitter attached to the whale in September 2001, and the whale - one of just 300 estimated to live in the wild - is believed to have died.

In some cases, reducing bycatch may include the need for stiffer penalties to enforce existing laws. A ship fishing illegally in the Galapagos Marine Reserve off the coast of Ecuador in May 2002 killed or injured some 70 dolphins in its nets, while harvesting just eight yellow-fin tuna.

Orcas, also known as killer whales, cruise near a fishing boat.

(Photo courtesy National Marine Fisheries Service)

The captain of the boat, El Dorado, was fined the equivalent of four U.S. pennies and spent two weeks confined to his own ship - with shore leave privileges. The incident is one of dozens that happen every year in the Galapagos Marine Reserve with little or no penalties against the lawbreakers, WWF notes.

"This egregious act reflects a conscious disregard for enforcing national and international norms that both governments have agreed to and is part of a larger pattern of illegal acts that must be stopped if Ecuador wants to sell its tuna in the U.S.," said William Eichbaum, WWF vice president. "The Galapagos Islands are a living laboratory of evolution and the laws banning industrial fishing are there to protect this fragile ecosystem."