Whale entanglements in fishing gear off the Pacific Coast rose in 2024 despite state and federal measures to reduce such incidents, including efforts to deploy “ropeless“ fishing gear that could eliminate risk of entanglements.
Preliminary data from NOAA Fisheries shows 34 whales became entangled in 2024, the highest number since 2018. Another entangled whale was reported off Orange County, California, earlier this month but has not been seen since last week, NOAA said.
NOAA spokesperson Nick Rahaim confirmed the latest entanglement numbers for California, Oregon and Washington state, which were released to the California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group on Wednesday and will be publicly released next year.
Environmental groups said the higher number reflects a failure on the part of state and federal regulators to protect whales, including efforts to encourage the use of ropeless “pop-up” gear. Such gear avoids entanglement risk by storing a crab trap’s vertical line and buoy on the ocean floor until a fisherman sends an acoustic “pop-up” signal releasing the gear.
