As 33ft sperm whale trapped in fishing net dies, we urge more action to protect marine animals

A sperm whale sadly died yesterday, having been trapped in fishing nets off the coast of China. We’re calling for more proactive action to protect sea life against abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear, otherwise known as ‘ghost gear’

It is unclear whether the incident was caused by active fishing gear or lost or abandoned ghost gear. But we believe this case highlights the threat to marine wildlife from human activity.

Our work

We launched the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI) in 2015. It is an alliance of governments, industry representatives, and non-governmental organisations with a shared commitment to tackle the problem.

Members include Young’s Seafood, the Marine Conservation Society, supermarket giant Sainsbury’s, Surfers Against Sewage and Austral Fisheries.

Another tragedy

The global head of our Sea Change campaign, Ingrid Giskes, said, "The sad story of an entangled 33ft whale off the coast in Shenzhen in China highlighted the potential risks to marine life."

Ingrid explained how whales can become entangled in large, heavy fishing nets: "These floating death traps can drag them for miles, restricting their movement and ultimately exhausting them until they drown."

One of the greatest threats to marine animals

Following a succession of incidents where marine life has been trapped in fishing gear across the world, Ingrid said it’s time for more proactive collaboration to protect marine life:

"Abandoned and lost fishing gear poses one of the greatest threats to marine __animal welfare. We estimate that ghost gear kills around 136,000 seals, sea lions and large whales every year through entanglement and ingestion, with many more suffering devastating injuries."

Urgent preventative action is needed. 

Working together to make change

We’re calling on more organisations to support the GGGI. 

The GGGI gathers information about the scale of the ghost gear problem globally, develops best practice guidelines and information for the fishing industry and seafood sector and works on the ground to implement sustainable solutions to challenges around fishing gear disposal and collection.

Ingrid added: "We recognise that action on ghost gear must be prioritized to achieve sustainable oceans, and make a voluntary commitment at the UN Oceans Conference in New York in June to substantially reduce ghost gear as part of their actions to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 14.

"We can’t afford to be complacent about protecting marine life. This is a reminder that we need preventative action and we need action quickly."

Learn more about Sea Change and the GGGI now.

*Please note: Image shows a whale entangled in ghost gear off the coast of California for demonstrative purposes, and is not the sperm whale in China.

"We estimate that ghost gear kills around 136,000 seals, sea lions and large whales every year."

Working with women to build resilience during disasters

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Animals in the wild

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Working with women to build resilience during disasters

Many of the world’s farm animals are owned by women, and natural disasters affect farm animals more than any other. We spoke with our Africa disaster operations manager, Judy Kimaru, about gender, animals and disasters

Why did you get into the field of disaster management and __animal welfare?  

I’ve worked in emergency management for 15 years, mainly with the United Nations and in countries in conflict. I saw a lot of issues around livelihoods and food security and animals were always central to it. I developed a passion for this kind of work. Emerging themes of climate change and a greater awareness and focus on disaster risk reduction, made it feel like a very natural transition.

Do many women work in this field?

I haven’t seen a lot of women in the field, particularly not on the technical side of things. Disaster risk reduction is a relatively new field of work. One of biggest challenges in this new field is the lack of expertise — and that includes men and women.  I would like to see more women in the field.

In my region, 80% of farmers are women. The more we train women farmers in disaster risk reduction, the more resilient we can make local communities and protect animals at the same time.

What do you see as the role of women livestock owners in disaster preparedness, recovery and community resiliency?

Firstly, women are not a homogeneous group. A women’s role is varied and is a factor of culture, education and opportunity.  

Certain animals tend to be the responsibility of certain genders. For example, donkeys in pastoral communities are considered the helpers of women. They help her carry water and goods to market such as in the Masai community. Camels tend to be looked after by men as they carry heavy goods and go longer distances from home. Chickens tend to be cared for by women and girls around the household.

Judy working to protect animals from drought in Ethiopia

In responses you’ve been a part of, what links have you seen between disaster management and women’s empowerment? 

I’ve just come back from Makwemi, Kenya where we are working and bringing women together to help them with resiliency exercises like better pasture techniques for their animals. When we started in 2013 they were collecting 30 litres of milk a day from their animals, due to poor nutrition and health. Now they are collecting 400 litres a day.

We taught them about silage, for example, which enables them to keep their animals fed through a drought. These women’s social economic status has directly improved as a result of our disaster risk reduction work with them. A private milk company noted the surge in production and put a cooling collection point there – which has now allowed the women to access much larger markets. 

I have also seen negative consequences. In Barringo County, Kenya in 2015 local “rainmakers" or witch doctors called a drought the “year when women were chased away from home”. This drought was so severe, women had to walk long distances to look for water. By the time they got home, they had not cooked or prepared the home for their husbands. In many instances, the husbands would beat their wives regularly and severely to the point that women fled the home.

The more we can teach women to become resilient with water pans and sustainable agricultural skills we empower her. Our work ideally makes her life around animals easier and more profitable as her social and economic status increases.

As the lead for our disaster management operations in Africa, Judy has protected thousands of animals from drought in Ethiopia and Kenya, a volcano in Cape Verde, flooding in Malawi, and many other natural disasters across the region.

Learn more about the work we do to protect animals from disasters.

"I haven’t seen a lot of women in the field, particularly not on the technical side of things."

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