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Southern Resident whales

Ambitious plan to free captive orca Lolita announced

The new owner of the Miami Seaquarium in the US has announced that it is...

Trade sanctions announced after Mexico fails to protect near extinct porpoise

The international body behind the treaty that protects endangered plants and animals from the threats...

WDC exposes failure of Government scheme to protect whales and dolphins from net deaths

Following our investigations, we have revealed that a UK Government scheme to protect whales and...

First cases of bird flu in dolphins discovered in the UK

The UK Government has announced that two dolphins and a harbour porpoise have died from...

Study reveals entanglement impact on freed whales

Hundreds of thousands of whales, dolphins and porpoises die every year as a result of being caught in fishing gear and nets but many survive horrific injuries only to live short and painful lives pulling nets around before slowly dying as a result.

Now research from scientists looking into the long term consequences of this kind of entanglement has revealed that whales can burn up twice as much energy whilst entangled. By using fishing gear removed from an entangled whale and then lowering it into the water behind a moving skiff, the researchers were able to estimate how much drag the fishing lines and buoys generated, and how much energy a whale would have to use up to pull the extra weight.

Find out more about the threat to whales and dolphins from fishing nets and gear.

The full report is available at Wiley Online Library

About George Berry

George is a member of WDC's Communications team and website coordinator.