Right whale populations are experiencing a devastating decline, but new types of fishing gear could help prevent their deaths
‘Ropeless’ fishing could reduce entanglements of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, according to a report from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The latest estimate suggests that as few as 340 right whales remain in our oceans as of 2021, a 2.3 per cent decline from 2020. As well as a decline in birth rates (some scientists are concerned that the species is becoming less capable of reproducing), these whales face the threat of fatal injuries from fishing and shipping accidents. At least 54 right whales have died as a result of ship strikes and entanglements in fishing gear since 2017, with fewer than 350 individuals left in the wild.
‘Ropeless’ fishing gear, which uses acoustic signals for location and retrieval, could help to reduce the risk that fishing poses to marine life by reducing the amount of time that vertical fishing lines are in the water. To encourage the adoption of these new techniques, NOAA has now released a roadmap to ropeless fishing for the US east coast.
In response to the species’ falling numbers, some local authorities have closed key fishing areas. The new strategy from NOAA would potentially allow the return of pot and trap fisheries, upon which various North American coastal communities have traditionally relied, to areas where right whales are common.
