![\"NOAA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/OCR-L-NOAALAYOFFS-0308-05.jpg\")
NOAA rescue teams were tracking an entangled humpback whale spotted off Laguna Beach in 2024. (Photo courtesy of Delaney Trowbridge\/Newport Coastal Adventure)<\/p>\n
A quarter of the entangled whales, mostly humpbacks, were reported off California, followed by Massachusetts, with 18%; Alaska, with 16%; and Hawaii, with 12%.<\/p>\n
Many of the whales were found wrapped in fishing gear, primarily used to catch lobsters and crabs. The gear, often connected to a trap on the seafloor and a buoy at the surface, can wrap itself around\u202fwhales\u2019\u202fmouths, tails and bodies, leaving them struggling to feed and even swim.<\/p>\n
Preliminary numbers from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for this year have reported seven entangled whales off the California coast \u2013\u00a0 three in just the last month.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis report paints a clear picture: our current safeguards are not enough,\u201d said Gib Brogan, a senior scientist with Oceana, the world\u2019s largest advocacy group for protecting the oceans, sea creatures and resources.<\/p>\n
The report\u2019s release comes during an already bleak year for marine life, especially off California. In the first half of the year, thousands of sea lions and dolphins stranded along beaches in Southern California<\/a>, many found dead, poisoned by domoic acid created by toxic algae<\/a>.<\/p>\n The algae blooms even affected whales, with at least two found dead on beaches in Southern California, necropsies confirming high levels of toxins.<\/p>\n Up north, hundreds of sea lions have been found on beaches in recent months suffering from a bacterial condition that is sickening and killing younger sea lions by attacking their kidneys, said John Warner, CEO of the Marine Mammal Care Center Los Angeles in San Pedro.<\/p>\n \u201cThe mortality rate is much higher this year (in Northern California), just like the mortality rate was higher than we\u2019ve ever seen here for domoic acid,\u201d Warner said. \u201cTo see mortality rates change pretty significantly in short periods of time raises eyebrows, as it should.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt a time when there are bigger threats and existing ones that are starting to be so much worse with multiple species dying of sea lions, dolphins and whales, like we saw for the first time this year, this is not the time to be gutting protections you\u2019d be expecting to have conversations about strengthening,\u201d Warner said of concern he and his colleagues have about the Trump administration\u2019s decision earlier this year to reduce staffing and budgets for NOAA.<\/p>\n Geoff Shester, a senior scientist with Oceana, also raised concerns about a draft bill in Congress pushed by Rep. Nick Begich, a Republican Congressman from Alaska, that would change parts of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and relax its definition of \u201charm.\u201d<\/p>\n If the definition is narrowed to actual injury, as proposed, and no longer includes activities that displace whales or cause them to change behavior, that would limit the federal agency\u2019s ability to mitigate threats, Shester argued, while also requiring a higher burden of proof for conservation actions.<\/p>\n Shester added that he has concerns about how many mammals could end up being killed by human activities without triggering enforcement.\u00a0 For example, in California, the limit is three entanglements of humpback whales before triggering a calendar-year closure of commercial fishing; the MMPA changes could raise that limit to 30 entanglements, Shester said.<\/p>\n During a House Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries hearing this summer, Begich said the 50-year act needs updating, arguing it has \u201cvague or overly precautionary standards.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs the decades have passed, we\u2019ve seen how its implementation, particularly in the use of vague or overly precautionary standards, has led to confusion, delay and unintended harm,\u201d Begich said. \u201cThis draft aims to bring clarity, objectivity, and balance back into the implementation of the MMPA.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, those on the front lines of rescuing and rehabilitating animals at care centers are concerned that the current furloughs and the possibility of job cuts could result in less support for struggling ocean creatures.<\/p>\n![\"Whale](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/OCR-L-WHALETANGLE-10-1211-02.jpg\")
Whale watching crews and rescue teams have been keeping track of an entangled whale first spotted on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024 and last seen Monday, Dec. 9. (Photo courtesy of Matt Stumpf\/Capt. Dave\u2019s Dolphin and Whale Watching captain)<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/OCR-L-ENTANGLE-1007-02.jpg\")
A team from The Marine Mammal Care Center, Los Angeles, responds to an entangled gray whale off Palos Verdes in March 2025. (Photo courtesy of the Marine Mammal Care Center Los Angeles.)<\/p>\n