New NOAA Fisheries team will tackle Pacific humpback whale entanglements

NOAA Fisheries has agreed to establish a team that will focus on reducing the number of Pacific humpback whale entanglements in the sablefish fishery as part of a new legal agreement.

The agreement is in response to a lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit organization that works to establish federal protections for wildlife. Last year, the center sued NOAA Fisheries, arguing that its permit for the sablefish fishery allowed the entanglement and death of endangered humpback whales without any measures or plans to reduce harm.

Approximately one humpback whale death or serious injury can be attributed to the sablefish fishery every year, according to NOAA Fisheries, although there are other entanglements where it’s not clear who the culprit was. Around 25 humpback whales are entangled every year along the West Coast, with many of them going unattributed.

In March, a U.S. district court sided with the center, ruling that NOAA Fisheries “cannot indefinitely delay developing” a plan for reducing entrapment while authorizing incidental take for endangered whales.

In response, the agency has signed a legal agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity that will require NOAA Fisheries to establish a team to work on reducing humpback entanglements. NOAA Fisheries agreed to establish the team before 31 October 2025.

“I’m relieved this agreement will give endangered humpbacks much-needed protections from entanglements, but the agency shouldn’t have been ignoring the whales to begin with,” Center Oceans Legal Director Kristen Monsell said in a statement. “Entanglements are truly horrific for humpback whales, causing starvation, severe injuries, and usually death. We still can’t trace most entanglements to their source, but this commitment from the agency will put fewer lethal obstacles in humpbacks’ way.”

The center wants NOAA Fisheries to force commercial fishermen to use new ropeless or pop-up gear, which eliminates the long vertical lines that whales can be entangled in. The Northeast Fisheries Science Center recently wrapped up a pilot program testing the gear for the lobster and Jonah crab fisheries, and there are several funds and programs designed to develop new gear and help commercial fishermen convert to less risky alternatives. U.S. senators have included a provision in the NOAA Fisheries appropriations legislation allocating USD 30 million (EUR 27 million) for testing and voluntarily implementing innovative gear within the Northeast lobster and Jonah crab fisheries.

The U.S. state of Oregon is considering introducing several restrictions on the Dungeness crab fishery to help reduce the risk to humpback whales. The government is looking at pot limit reductions and reducing the amount of surface gear to prevent more entanglements. NOAA Fisheries reported seven humpback whales entangled in Dungeness crab gear last year.

In March, five U.S. senators wrote to NOAA calling for a federal investigation into whether offshore wind was causing more whale deaths.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock/Nico Faramaz