The Deadly Shackle of Entanglement in Fishing Nets

80% of North Atlantic right whales that follow climate change-induced food migration routes and stray into snow crab fisheries experience at least one rope entanglement in their lifetime. A humpback whale in Southern California, USA, was strangled under the skin with dozens of meters of nylon rope, and it took rescuers 72 hours to complete the cut, which went as deep as the muscle layer. Not only do such injuries lead directly to death, but they also lengthen the reproductive cycle of female right whales from 3 to 10 years, and the population has plummeted from 500 in 2010 to fewer than 360.