A massive sperm whale that was entangled in fishing gear died after becoming stranded on a Scottish beach, prompting an investigation by a local marine research group.
What happened?
According to the BBC, locals in the island of Skye in Scotland reported seeing a massive 49-foot sperm whale entangled in ropes off the coast, seemingly struggling to swim. The animal eventually washed up on the shore of the nearby island of Raasay, barely clinging to life.
While the British Divers Marine Life Rescue — a marine animal rescue organization — managed to remove some of the rope before it came ashore, they weren't able to cut the portion around the whale's head and mouth. The Daily Record reported that locals cut the remaining 433 feet of rope, but the whale died shortly after.
When the Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme arrived to perform an investigation and necropsy, the group found a staggering 33 pounds of marine debris — which consisted of a tangled mass of rope, mussel farm gear, and plastic — in the whale's stomach, which likely contributed to its death. The organization believed the ropes tightly wrapped around the animal came from deep-water prawn trap gear, known locally as creel.
The whale was abnormally thin and showed signs of chronic malnutrition and dehydration. Since there was no food in its stomach, it likely went several weeks without a meal as the rope prevented it from eating.
A spokesperson for the Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme told The Daily Record, "This was a challenging necropsy for a number of reasons, not least the weather, and as always it was only possibly due to the help from a large number of volunteers."
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Why is this important?
Scientists estimate that around 171 trillion pieces of plastic are floating in the world's oceans, per the BBC. That's a significant increase from a previous estimate of 16 trillion pieces in 2005.
Plastic trash can take hundreds of years to break down, and in the meantime, it disintegrates into smaller pieces called microplastics, which marine animals consume when they eat fish and algae. As the plastics enter the food chain, they may also impact humans who eat contaminated seafood.
Even if animals don't eat plastics, they may still get entangled in marine debris such as fishing nets and ropes, which can lead to a painful death like that of the sperm whale in Scotland.
According to Condor Ferries, plastic waste in the oceans kills an estimated 100 million marine animals each year, with 100,000 dying from entanglement alone. "Ghost gear" — lost or abandoned fishing equipment — is responsible for many of these deaths.
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What's being done to reduce plastic pollution?
A group called Whale and Dolphin Conservation banded together with five other organizations in 2018 to form the Scottish Entanglement Alliance, which seeks to work with the Scottish fishing industry to educate and reduce the risks of entanglements.
More broadly, the Ocean Cleanup, an environmental nonprofit that uses technological solutions to tackle plastic waste, recently deployed a fleet of drones and GPS trackers to find plastic hotspots in real time. The organization also launched a river cleanup barge-like machine in Bangkok to intercept plastic before it reaches the oceans and restore the city's polluted waterways.
With these innovations, there's hope that marine mammals won't have to suffer the same fate as the sperm whale in the future.
However, we can make a difference now by using less plastic and opting for more sustainable alternatives, such as bamboo cutlery and straws, canvas grocery bags, and brewed coffee instead of single-use pods. Recycling plastic bottles and other disposable plastics can also keep oceans clean and help animals thrive.
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