How Do You Solve Whale Entanglement?

One ocean conservation issue that never fails to stir up emotions is whale entanglement. Seeing majestic ocean giants struggling and suffering because they have become ensnared in fishing gear is heartbreaking. 

It’s a topic that’s close to Cal’s heart, having seen three large whales entangled in fishing gear during her time on the water and around the coast. 

In fact, the recording of an episode of the Our Ocean Podcast on precisely this topic got disrupted after reports came in of a sperm whale that had washed up on a beach near the Isle of Skye, wrapped in rope. 

That episode, Solving Whale Entanglement, shared some distressing details about what whales can experience after being caught in fishing gear. But it also gave us hope for the future, with fishing communities working alongside conservationists to find solutions. 

One of the key messages Ellie Maclennan, of the Scottish Entanglement Alliance, shared when she spoke to Cal last year was that entanglement is never deliberate. 

Ellie described entanglement as the “unintentional capture or restraint of an animal in rope netting, any form of fishing gear or non-fishing related gear like marine debris”. In short, it’s “anything that restricts the animal’s movement or ability to behave as it normally would”.

 

Ellie’s work involves working very closely with creel fishermen around Scotland’s coast, all of whom are just as keen to solve this problem as those working in whale conservation. 

She explained that the fishermen she has spoken to have all found it very distressing if they’ve encountered a whale or any other large marine animal entangled in their gear, and that their primary concern is for the animal’s welfare. 

Creel fishing is a low-impact form of fishing along our coastline. It involves setting static pots on the seabed to catch crabs, lobsters and langoustine. The reason creel fishing can pose an entanglement risk is that the pots are connected by a rope, called a groundline, with the “end rope” stretching to the surface with a buoy attached.

Ellie explained that the majority of Scottish creel fishermen used what’s known as floating rope to connect their pots via a groundline. This means the rope floats above the seabed, essentially creating archways that can be metres high.

The conversations Ellie had with dozens of fishermen over the course of 18 months delivered some fascinating insights and have resulted in the trial of a simple solution to the issue that could have a significant positive impact: swapping floating ropes for sinking ropes on the groundline.

In a ground-breaking project, Scottish creel fishermen have been swapping their floating groundline ropes for negatively buoyant ones to see if this reduces the number of entanglements reported, while also reporting on how this affects their fishing operations. 

A paper published on the project in November 2024, of which Ellie was a co-author, explained that using the heavier, sinking rope did not require the creel fishermen to make significant adjustments. In fact, some preferred working with the heavier rope to its lighter counterpart. 

“The fishermen who were involved in the trial, which ended about a year ago, are still using the rope,” Ellie told Cal. “Some of them have asked for more since.” 

As a result of the pilot project, creel fishermen in Shetland, the Orkneys and out in the Western Isles have been trialling this negatively buoyant rope to see if it also works in their fishing grounds.

The Scottish Entanglement Alliance brought together groups of people from across the fishing and conservation spectrum to work towards solving a common challenge.

“I think the end goal for everyone is the same, which is to reduce [entanglement risk], because it’s not realistic to say we’ll eliminate entanglement risk, but we can reduce it. I think that’s everyone’s shared goal and having different groups realise that has been a big win.”

You can listen to Ellie’s conversation with Cal in full on the Our Ocean Podcast. Search for the Solving Whale Entanglement episode wherever you get your podcasts. 

 

Photo by Gabe Hearnshaw