2025 so far…
2025 has been an unusually busy year for entanglements so far, with four confirmed cases to date:
- Humpback whale, Invertote, NE Skye. This young 8m humpback whale was reported anchored to a fish farm drum by a 30mm rope around the head and pectoral fin on the morning of 30th It was successfully disentangled the following day by SEA partner BDMLR’s large whale disentanglement team. Read more about this recue here.
Image credit: Anthony Rigell
Image credit: Zoe Scott Green
- Humpback whale, Lealt, NE Skye. This humpback whale was reported entangled on the morning of 9th February in a fleet of active crab creels. It was successfully released that afternoon by local creel fishermen Bally Philp and Haydn Mackenzie who through SEA completed a disentanglement training course led by David Mattila, the coordinator of the International Whaling Commission’s Global Whale Entanglement Response Network in October 2019 alongside 18 other Scottish commercial creel fishermen. This disentanglement was a great example of the vital role fishermen can and do play in entanglement mitigation, and the importance of understanding not just the animals involved, but also being familiar with the fishing gear and ground. Subject to funding SEA hopes to run more disentanglement training for fishermen, to benefit whales and communities throughout Scotland. Read more about this rescue here and here.
Image credit: Anthony Rigell
- Humpback whale, Skipness, Tarbert. On 14th February, a 9.5m male humpback whale was reported to SEA partner the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS). The whale had very clear entanglement lesions particularly around the tail stock, however with no entangling material remaining on the animal it is impossible to know exactly the type or origin of this.
Image credit: Phil Dickinson
- Sperm whale, Isle of Raasay. First spotted entangled by local drone operator Anthony Rigell in the Raasay Sound on 27th February, BDMLR’s large whale disentanglement team attempted to free the whale over the following three days, but due to poor weather conditions were only able to remove approximately 5m of the entangling rope. On 3rd March the 14.1m adult male sperm whale live stranded and later died on the Isle of Raasay, where a further 132m of rope was removed from its head and jaw which had prevented the whale from feeding. SMASS necropsied the whale over the following two days and found that the ropes around the head and jaw, believed to be an endline of a creel fleet, had cut 4-5cm into the tissue. The ropes around the lower jaw (4-5 wraps) had cut almost down to the bone. This was a chronic case, where the whale had been entangled for a period of at least 3 to 4 weeks and was severely dehydrated and emaciated as a result. You can watch a short film about this case by James Appleton here. Further findings of the necropsy are available here.
Image credit: Anthony Rigell
Image credit: James Appleton
As well as responding to entanglements, it’s been a busy start to the year for the Scottish Entanglement Alliance team who, as a follow-on from this NRF-funded 18-month sinking rope trial in the Inner Sound, recently hosted a series of 10 workshops across all inshore fisheries group regions of Scotland. We met with creel fishermen to hear their thoughts, concerns and questions around a transition to sinking rope, which we believe could reduce entanglement risk to some cetacean and shark species by over 80%, and their advice on whether this would be safe and practical in their area.
A HUGE thank you to everyone who attended a workshop and who signed up to trial sinking rope. The map below shows the locations where over 60 commercial creel fishermen are now trialling sinking rope. A short film about the aforementioned trial can be viewed here.
Image credit: Russell Leaper
We are continuing to build on our understanding of entanglement risk, develop practical methods for risk reduction, and identify economic and policy strategies for the implementation of these solutions through a follow-on project starting next month. More updates to follow shortly here, and on our Facebook and Instagram pages.