According to a new report by NOAA Fisheries, the number of large whale entanglements recorded by the agency in 2024 was higher than average, with 95 entanglements confirmed nationally – 87 of which featured entangled animals that were still alive at the time of the entanglement report.
That number was a significant increase from the 64 confirmed entanglements in 2023, and from the 17 year average of 71.4 entanglements per year. The agency said it is still looking into the causes of the uptick, and unable to yet determine whether the “increase is temporary or part of a longer term trend.”
According to NOAA 77 of the 95 confirmed entanglements involved humpback whales. Four involved endangered right whales, the total population of which is estimated to be less than 400, and which have been at the center of a contentious debate about fishers’ rights in the Northeast Atlantic. Bowhead, fin, minke and gray were the other species that had become entangled.
The report found 71 percent of the entanglements occurred off the coasts of California, Massachusetts, Alaska, and Hawaii. About half of the entanglements (48 percent) could be directly traced to a commercial or recreational fisher operation, the report said.
The most frequent sources of entanglements were buoys and line and lines, which made up 25 and 24 of the entanglements, respectively. Another 19 of the entanglements were linked to traps, while 14 were related to monofilament.
Of the 87 live entanglements, rescue operations were mounted in at least 37 cases, and 11 individual whales were freed.
Four whales were later confirmed to have released themselves from their entanglements, though one was confirmed to have died two months post release.
The report stressed the danger of attempts to free entangled whales by untrained members of the public, noting that eight of the attempted de-entanglements were mounted by untrained members of the public, one of which resulted in the whale’s death.
The agency asked for the public’s support in identifying and properly reporting whale entanglements to trained experts who could work to safely free the animals.
