A Sad Story of a Humpback Whale

By Mark J. Palmer

In the Mediterranean waters near Mallorca, a ship reported that a humpback whale was badly entangled in a gill net – an illegal gill net. Divers arrived and found the humpback was unable to open its mouth.

This was only the third time a humpback whale had been spotted near the Balearic Islands.

Divers from the Palma de Mallorca's aquarium marine rescue unit arrived and were unsuccessful cutting the plastic net off the whale from their boat. The divers entered the water, carefully cut the net, and were able to free the whale. The rescuers celebrated a successful and dangerous 45-minute mission.

Tragically, less than a week later, the terribly weakened whale washed up on the shore of the Spanish mainland near Valencia. It died shortly after experts decided it was too far gone to return to the sea.

The head of conservation at the Oceanography Foundation, Jose Luis Crespo, told reporters: "We would have caused more injuries and made its condition worse, and it would possibly have been back on the sand the next day."

The whale was estimated to weigh more than 30 tons and was 46 feet long.

High seas gill nets were banned by the United Nations in 1992, because of the incredible harm the nets caused to marine life, basically catching anything not small enough to swim through the mesh. Yet, some fishermen still deploy these walls of death in defiance, and the Mediterranean Sea is especially haunted by these illegal nets.

While we salute the brave divers who tried to rescue this whale, the subsequent death of the humpback clearly shows that the long-term answer to entangling plastic fishing gear is to ban these products from the ocean. Even when restrictions are in place, a lack of enforcement is a major problem. Nations must step up and pass regulations regarding fishing gear, ban gear that harms marine mammals and other life, and provide the resources and political will to enforce those restrictions.

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The International Marine Mammal Project of Earth Island Institute was a strong supporter of the 1992 ban on drift gill nets by the United Nations. We continue to urge restrictions on gill nets and other plastic fishing gear that cause so much harm to whales, dolphins, seals and sea lions. You can help by donating to support our work protecting marine mammals from plastic pollution and fishing gear. Thank you!