12/23/2025
Just days after conservationists celebrated the first confirmed North Atlantic right whale calf this calving season, they were met with a sobering reminder of the ongoing plight of this critically endangered species. On December 3, Division, a 3-year-old North Atlantic right whale, was spotted off the coast of Georgia severely entangled in fishing gear, with several lines wrapped around his head and mouth, including one cutting into his blowhole. Local trained experts and scientists immediately responded and were able to remove some of the gear, but despite these heroic efforts, scientists at NOAA Fisheries Service have determined that Division is so severely injured that he is likely to die as a result of the entanglement.
Death by chronic entanglement is slow and excruciating: Over the course of months or years, entangled whales often die from infection, drowning, or starvation as they drag the heavy fishing gear for thousands of miles, which cuts into their skin and muscle and makes it extremely difficult to dive, feed, and surface to breathe. Entanglement afflicts almost the entire North Atlantic right whale population; at least 80% of individuals are entangled at least once in their lifetime.
Around 384 North Atlantic right whales remain today, and entanglements and vessel strikes are their two greatest threats. Entanglements occur when whales swim through waters laden with long, vertical lines connecting buoys on the surface of the water with crab and lobster pots on the seafloor. A transition to “ropeless” fishing gear, which use spools of rope that are stowed on the seafloor (rather than suspended in the water) and released when remotely triggered by the fisher, is a viable solution, but this alternative hasn’t been widely adopted—yet.
You can help by asking your supermarket and/or seafood retailer to transition to seafood caught using ropeless fishing gear. Learn more at TheFutureIsRopeless.org
Credit: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, taken under NOAA permit #24359. Aerial survey funded by the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and NOAA Fisheries.
