Scale, impact and potential mitigation of marine mammal entanglement in Scottish waters with Ellie MacLennan.
Sadly entanglements appear to be increasing around our coastlines. Join Ellie as she talks about her investigations to prevent entanglement of large marine animals in fishing gear in Scottish waters.
Marine animal entanglement in fishing gear is a global concern, considered by many to be the most significant marine mammal welfare issue of our time. Entanglements occur all around our coastline, and the incidents and severity appear to be increasing. This raises conservation concerns at both species and population level, but also welfare concerns for the individual animals involved. In early 2018 the Scottish Entanglement Alliance (SEA) was established. Ellie coordinates SEA, of which HWDT is proud to be one of the six partners on this project. The goal of this collaboration is to work closely with Scotland’s inshore creel fishing industry to provide a coordinated and comprehensive monitoring and engagement programme to better understand marine animal entanglement in our waters and to work towards developing strategies to reduce entanglement risk.
In Scottish waters available data indicates that the frequency, rate and range of species impacted by entanglement has been increasing in recent years. Findings of this included that entanglements are occurring more frequently than previously thought and affecting a wider range of species. Species are also being affected in different ways.
Join researcher Ellie MacLennan as she discusses her PhD uncovering entanglement in static fishing gear as the major cause of anthropogenic mortality and morbidity in large whales globally. Ellie's PhD is looking at the level of entanglement exposure, the welfare implications surrounding this through analysing post mortem pathology and fisherman’s knowledge in the creel sector.
Instagram: tangly_seas
SEA website: https://www.scottishentanglement.org/
We want our talks to be accessible for everyone so optional subtitles will be generated during the webinar and we are asking you to pay what you can. Your donation will support marine conservation in Scotland. Thank you.