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Pregnant Whale Dies After Accidentally Eating Fishing Net

Pregnant Whale Dies After Accidentally Eating Fishing Net

Conservationists are campaigning to get some fishing nets removed from use to prevent unnecessary deaths.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Animal welfare activists are devastated after finding a pregnant whale died because it accidentally ate fishing net.

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation uploaded a distressing image of the whale and explained how the tiny bit of ocean pollution led to its death.

"This minke whale was pregnant and carrying a mid-term foetus when she got a piece of discarded trawl net caught in her mouth," it wrote.

"Because the net was stuck in her baleen, which is what whales use to filter food out of the water, she would have been unable to feed herself and she died."

The Conservation was aware that posting images like this will likely affect their followers, but admits it is necessary to get people to understand the big issue with discarded fishing net.

Greenpeace promoted the call to action and hopes the whale's death will start a chain reaction.

It wrote on Twitter that this one baleen whale is one of many who die from fishing net.

"Globally, tens of thousands of whales, dolphins and sharks meet their end by getting tangled in ghost fishing gear," it said. "Fishing companies must do better to protect them - both while fishing and by disposing of their crap properly so it can't do this."

Earlier this year, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation tried to get governments and politicians to set 'clear, ambitious, annual targets' to prevent and reduce marine animals from dying due to fishing nets.

The campaign was also aiming to phase out the nets that pose the greatest risk to marine mammals.

The Conservation said the issue was prominent in the UK, adding that humpback and minke whales in Scottish waters were dying in high numbers every year, as well as dolphins in the Bay of Biscay and Celtic Sea.

An Environment Department spokesperson said at the time: "Dolphins, whales and porpoises are a vital part of our marine ecosystem, which is why we are working closely with fishermen to reduce accidental by-catch.

"We are developing a UK Bycatch Plan of Action which we will be publishing later this year. This plan will outline actions to tackle the bycatch of these animals in UK waters in a practical and risk-based way."

Featured Image Credit: Whale and Dolphin Conservation

Topics: News, Animals